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Protecting intellectual property rights was front of mind when New Zealand joined a group of wealthy nations to shut down an attempt by poorer countries to get cheap Covid vaccines.
Last October, India and South Africa sought a waiver to TRIPS, the international rules that protect intellectual property. Support forthe waiver grew to more than 100 countries.
Essentially, the waiver would mean pharmaceutical and other health companies losing their intellectual property for things like vaccines and ventilators.
This would make it free for any company to produce a cheap, generic vaccine, potentially making it easier and cheaper for poorer countries to vaccinate their populations.
The push for a waiver was associated with the movement for a "People's Vaccine" - which advocated for more widely available vaccinations for everyone.
Documents released under the Official Information Act show trade officials were opposed to the plan in December last year, and looked for alternatives.
Official advice warned the waiver could threaten the intellectual property of strategic New Zealand businesses like Fisher & Paykel Healthcare when weighing up whether to support the waver.
Intellectual Property rules got in the way of the Government backing a call for cheap vaccines for the developing world. Photo / Getty Images
But officials also said that protecting intellectual property rights helped to fight the pandemic by creating incentives and rewards for the innovations in vaccines and healthcare.
The documents were released to the New Zealand Alternative, which advocates for a more progressive foreign policy for New Zealand.
New Zealand Alternative steering group member Max Harris said the emails showed the "overriding weight placed by MFAT on New Zealand's economic interests, including the interests of specific New Zealand companies when advising on New Zealand's interests."
"The documents raise real questions about how we take positions on key foreign policy and trade issues, and the role ministers and the public service should play in that process."
A briefing from February made the case for upholding strong intellectual property rules, saying that "allowing countries to wave IP rights" could affect "incentives" and "therefore reduce investment innovation, manufacture and distribution".
"This could dis-incentivise the release or availability of otherwise new tools in the ongoing fight against Covid-19," the briefing said.
But officials conceded that if IP rules were found to be getting in the way of international vaccine rollouts the Government would "need to look at that".
In the meantime, the Government preferred other mechanisms like COVAX, an international vaccine procurement programme.
On December 7, trade officials briefing Trade Minister Damien O'Connor warned that New Zealand had "a systemic interest in holding up the international trade system of the World Trade Organisation", implying the waiver would threaten that balance.
"New Zealand supports TRIPS and the balance it strikes between providing access and incentivising investment in innovation, manufacture and distribution,"
This stance changed rapidly in May, when the United States reversed its opposition to the waiver, shocking the international community.
At this point, the Government changed its position, backing the US stance.
"New Zealand supports the waiver of intellectual property protections of vaccines and we are continuing to work hard within the WTO on this and other issues to respond to the Covid-19 emergency," said a spokesperson for MFAT.
The reversal blindsided New Zealand, as did the aftermath. New Zealand had co-sponsored an alternative to the TRIPS waiver with Canada, which changed its stance following the US announcement.
But officials only found out about Canada's evolving stance on the issue when the country tweeted about it.
Even with the US's backing, New Zealand officials were still hesitant, asking why existing flexibilities in the TRIPS system weren't being used.
Ominously, officials suggested that international "political and commercial pressure" was being applied to countries to prevent them from making more use of some of the flexibility built-in to existing TRIPS rules.
"If that is the case - action should be taken to prevent such pressure being applied," officials said.
The Government's abiding concern was that the waiver proposed was overly broad, and impinged on strategic companies like Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, a manufacturer of ventilators.
"It covers a range of products from vaccines to face masks and ventilator parts. If agreed it could allow companies throughout the world to manufacture and distribute vaccines, medicines, ventilators, high-end masks and other products without being prosecuted for appropriating the IP embedded in the product.
"This could, for example, impact health care products produced by Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, among others".
The emails show New Zealand officials were happier supporting the US position because it supported a limited waiver, which only applied to Covid vaccines, and not other medical products.
Harris said New Zealand had " unfortunately missed an opportunity to show that leadership on the People's Vaccine".
"New Zealand's positioning internationally cannot be solely driven by the economic interests of private companies if we want a democratic foreign policy representative of all New Zealanders," he said.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was approached for comment.
