Friday was an important day in the global fight against Covid-19. The day was held an informal meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to discuss a proposal made by India and South Africa in October, and that since So it has received the support of about 100 other countries. . The proposal, also supported by many leading non-governmental organizations working in the area of public health, calls for an exemption from intellectual property rights on various products related to the protection and treatment of Covid-19, from masks to vaccines, even the worst. of the pandemic passes.
But the measure is not supported by many first world nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and many countries in the European Union. The discussion comes in the midst of a struggle by countries to ensure vaccines for their population, through prior approval agreements with companies that develop vaccines. The announcements by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna about the efficacy of their vaccines, both in the last fortnight, have only served to intensify the fight. Nature reported in August that wealthy nations have signed deals to buy at least two billion doses of vaccines. According to that article, based on data from healthcare analytics firm Airfinity, the UK has struck deals to cover five times its population. And that was three months ago.
Also Read: One in Five US Hospitals Faces Personnel Crisis in One Week
Over the past month, countries finalized their positions on the India-South Africa proposal, reiterated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a BRIC group meeting earlier this week, based on internal discussions. But Friday’s meeting, the details of which were expected when this column was being written, is unlikely to be the last word, although it is important from the perspective of understanding support for the proposal. The lines are clearly drawn. The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial titled “A Global Covid Vaccine Heist” accused India and South Africa of wanting to “get this [vaccine] technology without paying for it and then using its generic drug manufacturing base to produce, distribute and sell copycats around the world. ” “This is stealing, not sharing,” he wrote. However, keeping these vaccines out of the reach of the global south (most of the vaccine capacity for next year has been reserved by the global north) will only deepen existing divisions. Worse, vaccinating just one part of the world is unlikely to solve the problem, unless countries with access to the vaccine create bubbles around them, imposing significant restrictions on the movement of goods and people across their borders.
Interestingly, this is not the first time such a request has been made at the WTO. In 2001, after lengthy and sometimes bitter discussions about the treatment of HIV / AIDS, the WTO Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health established that countries had the right to ignore patents and other intellectual property rights in case national health emergencies. Some believe that the resulting wave of generics helped many countries control HIV / AIDS. In 2003, an amendment was made to allow the export of inexpensive generics to countries that did not have the capacity to manufacture the drugs. The main flexibility allowed by the 2001 declaration was the granting of compulsory licenses, which implies that patent holders are adequately compensated.
Also Read: PM Modi Holds Review Meeting To Decide On India’s Vaccination Strategy
But what about companies that have spent billions on research? Will they be happy with such compensation? And will it be fair to them?
There are no easy answers. But the debate, and the division it threatens to exacerbate, point to why it would have been better for everyone – rich, developing and poor countries, and vaccine developers – if the WHO’s Covax facility had managed to sign on in richer countries, and it also reached agreements with vaccine developers. In the absence of a mechanism like this, it would always get complicated.
.
