WHO, 37 countries launch alliance to share tools to battle Covid-19

The WHO issued a "Solidarity Call to Action", asking other stakeholders to join the voluntary push.

Thirty-seven countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) appealed for common ownership of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, taking aim at patent laws they fear could become a barrier to sharing crucial supplies. 

While the push by mostly developing nations, called the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool, won praise from groups including Doctors Without Borders, a drug industry alliance questioned if the effort to pool intellectual property would really broaden access to medicines. 

Developing and some small nations fear rich countries pumping resources into finding vaccines — more than 100 are in development — will muscle their way