Clete Willems Quoted by CNBC on Possible Lifting of IP Protections for COVID Vaccines

Clete Willems, a partner in the public law and policy practice at Akin Gump, has been quoted in the CNBC article “White House weighs temporarily lifting intellectual property shield on COVID-19 vaccines.” The article reports that, in response to pressure from developing nations and subsequent support from some in Congress, the Biden-Harris administration is considering whether to suspend intellectual property protections for vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.

A temporary suspension, the article says, would apply to all medical technologies to treat or prevent COVID-19. South Africa and India, CNBC reports, made a formal request to the World Trade Organization to waive the protections until the pandemic is over, but the issue was left unresolved.

Willems, former Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC that lifting the protections would set a dangerous precedent of sharing technology.

“The administration needs to steer clear of this trap, which would undermine decades of U.S. policy against forced technology transfer to countries like China and won’t directly increase vaccine distribution,” Willems said. “The model that they are pursuing with their Quad partners is much more promising,” he added, referring to a complex financing deal between the United States, India, Japan and Australia that would boost vaccine manufacturing in the Indo-Pacific region, where there has been a shortage.