2. Debate on Covid-19 Vaccines and
Intellectual Property Rights
Side 1: Drug manufacturing companies
Want? Protect right to make and sell C-19 Vaccines
Side 2: India, South Africa and Developing Nations
Want? End IP protections, share how to make C19 vaccines
3. Consider your audience(s)!
First example: 5 March 2021 Letter to USA President
Everyone knows that the letter will be made public
Audience is: US President…and everyone else in the world!
How do I know that? I will show you after we finish examining the letter
4. Example: 5 March 2021 Letter to USA President
Paragraph 1:
We would like to congratulate you on the more than 80 million doses of COVID-19
vaccine administered to Americans to date. As we continue to work to vaccinate
Americans, we must also acknowledge that COVID-19 anywhere in the world means our
collective fight against this virus is not done. As representatives of biopharmaceutical
companies and members of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
(PhRMA), the association representing the global research-based biopharmaceutical
industry in the United States, we applaud your commitment and funding support for the
COVAX Facility. As you know, COVAX was created to speed up global vaccination efforts
particularly in lower- and middle-income countries and is crucial to disseminating the
vaccine globally. As founding members of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator,
of which COVAX is a key pillar, the industry is pleased to see that COVAX delivered vaccine
doses to Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Rwanda as it begins its roll-out of 2 billion doses
to the developing world.
5. What is Paragraph 1 doing?
Introduction
Sets a tone with some positive emotion: Congratulations!
Your work is great!
Praises the US President!
Aristotelian: Pathos (emotion) + Ethos (credibility)
Also highlights cooperation: our collective fight
6. Paragraph 2
The progress made over the last year is nothing short of incredible. There are
currently multiple treatments and vaccines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) and global regulatory agencies for use against COVID-19,
and one medicine is approved for the treatment of COVID-19. None of that work
would have been possible without the unprecedented collaboration between
research-based biopharmaceutical companies, U.S. and global governments,
multilateral organizations, nongovernmental institutions and many others.
7. What’s happening in paragraph 2?
More praise: OMG we are all doing an amazing job!
Incredible!
Background information: Collaboration!
This will be important for the claim and the proof.
8. Paragraph 3
As you and your team know, developing and manufacturing safe and effective
vaccines consistently on a global scale is a massive undertaking. COVID-19
vaccines are complex biologic products. The manufacturing requires specialized
experience, expertise and equipment. For example, only a few facilities in the
world perform some of the critical steps needed to manufacture mRNA vaccines.
Supply chain challenges are being dealt with daily, including in partnership with
your Administration. As you have seen first-hand, thousands of dedicated
American workers at biopharmaceutical manufacturing sites and suppliers
throughout the United States are playing a critical role in this effort.
9. What’s happening in paragraph 3?
Background for the claim: making vaccines is difficult
massive undertaking
Complex
Personalizing with the US President: You and your team
you have seen first-hand
10. Paragraph 4
To manage these demands, many of us are working with other
manufacturers worldwide with the appropriate expertise, technical
capabilities and facilities and have entered into partnerships and
licensing agreements to speed up the production and distribution of
vaccines. In fact, another major agreement between two global
companies to enhance vaccine manufacturing capacity was just
announced this week.
11. What’s happening in paragraph 4?
Background for the claim: we are already cooperating and sharing
working with other manufacturers worldwide
partnerships
agreements
Message: No need to change anything!
12. Paragraph 5: the proposition
Intellectual property protections have been essential not only to speed
the research and development of new treatments and vaccines, but
also to facilitate sharing of technology and information to scale up
vaccine manufacturing to meet global needs. Eliminating those
protections would undermine the global response to the pandemic,
including ongoing effort to tackle new variants, create confusion that
could potentially undermine public confidence in vaccine safety, and
create a barrier to information sharing. Most importantly, eliminating
protections would not speed up production.
13. What’s happening in paragraph 5?
Claim: Change (in this situation) = Bad
Intellectual property protections have been essential
Eliminating those protections would undermine the global response to the
pandemic
eliminating protections would not speed up production
14. Paragraph 6: Refutation
Unfortunately, in October, India and South Africa formally proposed to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) to suspend critical intellectual property provisions of the
TRIPS Agreement. This includes the protection and enforcement of copyrights,
industrial designs, patents and trade secrets on any COVID-19 innovation until
widespread vaccination is in place globally. In requesting the waiver, India and
South Africa argued without evidence that intellectual property is hindering the
global response to the pandemic and that the waiver would help scale up research,
development, manufacturing and supply of needed products.
15. What’s happening in paragraph 6?
Counter argument: waiving IP protection = more vaccines
Refute: They have no evidence!
In requesting the waiver, India and South Africa argued without evidence
(US media often writes “Trump argued without evidence…” when they did not
want to write “Trump lied!” so this is a polite way to insult their opponents)
Effective?
Is that a fair point?
16. Paragraph 7
The U.S. government has stood alongside other governments—including the
European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Brazil, and
Norway—to oppose this waiver. We urge your Administration to maintain this
longstanding support for innovation and American jobs by continuing to oppose
the TRIPS IP waiver.
17. What’s happening in paragraph 7?
Support for claim: Many other governments support us!
You (USA) have supported us until now!
Complication: You = Trump (in 2020)
January 20 = new US President
Letter is 5 March 2021
Support: maintain this longstanding support for innovation and American jobs
Shift in focus of argument: to the future, beyond Covid-19, next pandemic
Next US election in 2024!
18. Paragraph 8
Intellectual property is the foundation for both the development and sharing
of new technologies. Perhaps more than any other time in history, society is
seeing and benefiting from the innovation supported by intellectual property.
Despite the immense challenge of scaling manufacturing on novel
technologies, current estimates are that COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers will
supply approximately 10 billion doses by the end of 2021, enough to
vaccinate the entire current global vaccine eligible population.
19. What’s happening in paragraph 8?
Support for the claim: IP has worked, is working
Intellectual property is the foundation
IP will solve this crisis:
current estimates are that COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers will supply
approximately 10 billion doses by the end of 2021 enough to vaccinate the
entire current global vaccine eligible population.
Why change what is working well?
20. Paragraph 9: Conclusion
The biopharmaceutical industry remains committed to working with you and your
team to bring this pandemic to an end as quickly as possible through the
research, development, manufacture and distribution of vaccines and
therapeutics for COVID-19.
Do I detect a veiled threat to stop cooperating?
Remember I said this letter was for the public to also read?
23. Part 1: Introduction and background
Pathos: We were wrong in the past.
And we admit it! It was one of the dumbest things…
This time we are better!
We won’t do it again…or will we?
28. First text: Summary of the issue on 10 January 2021
People “who support the waiver [of IPR protections] should…emphasi[ze]:
• the extent of public financing for Covid-19 medical discoveries,
• the degree of UN and broader civil society support for the waiver, including
support from global public health leaders,
• the slow roll-out of vaccines to developing countries in its absence,
• the inequalities this will worsen as some countries are able to access vaccines
and treatments and so recover more rapidly than others, and
• most countries already stated acknowledgement that until everyone receives the
vaccine everyone remains at risk.
Source: conversation.org
29. University argumentative essays
• Pathos (emotional hook)
• Ethos (establish credibility)
• Logos: emphasis on logical use of evidence from reputable sources
Requirement of citation and referencing, why?
We never trust! Instead, we verify.
30. What about experts and people with great authority?
Shouldn’t you trust your professors when they tell you something?
Yes, be willing to trust them when they show you the evidence.
The titles of “experts” such as professor are retrospective facing, meaning my job
title refers to what I have accomplished, but it does not guarantee my next work.
A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.
- David Hume (1748) An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
31. Notice what BP does not argue
• No argument that Companies deserve the money or IPR protection
Instead, it is an argument that “we’ve got this, we are making great progress.”
How should they organize their argument if the audience was developing
nations in Africa and Southeast Asia?
How would you argue to that audience?
32. Audience waiting for the vaccine?
Don’t stress prior accomplishments (because they have not benefited)
Focus instead on:
• Examples of cooperation
• Examples of sharing vaccines
• Speeding up the manufacturing process
• Shift the focus
• Shift the blame
33. Covid-19 Vaccine Patents
Developing world wants the WTO to:
1. Suspend Covid-19 Vaccine Patents and share manufacturing
technology so that all nations can produce vaccines
2. Grant access to cheaper generics faster over longer period of time
3. Grant a compulsory license under TRIPS to allow countries to
manufacture the vaccine on a case-by-case basis.
