On Wednesday and Thursday more than 100 developing countries, led by South Africa and India, will make the case at the WTO for a temporary waiver during the pandemic of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), which they say would remove legal barriers for more countries and manufacturers to produce coronavirus vaccines.

An umbrella group of NGOs called the People’s Vaccine Alliance is advocating for the waiver saying it will help ease the inequitable access to vaccines between the developed and developing world. They point to the HIV/AIDS crisis when treatment was initially very expensive as pharmaceutical companies enjoyed monopolies on drugs before they were eventually overruled, allowing the mass production of cheap generic treatments.