A proposal by India, South Africa and eight other countries calls on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to exempt member countries from enforcing certain patents, and other Intellectual Property (IP) rights under the organisation’s Trade Related Aspects Agreement Intellectual Property Rights. , known as TRIPS, for a limited period of time. This is to ensure that IPRs do not restrict the rapid manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Although a few members have raised concerns about the proposal, a large proportion of World Trade Organization membership supports the motion. It has also received the support of various international organizations, multilateral agencies and global civil society.
Unprecedented times demand unorthodox measures. We have seen this in the effectiveness of tight locks for a limited time, as a policy intervention, in curtailing the spread of the pandemic. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its October 2020 issue of World Economic Outlook states that “… However, the risk of worse-than-expected growth consequences remains significant. If the virus does resurface, progress on treatments and vaccines is slower than expected, or if countries’ access to them remains unequal, economic activity may be lower than expected, with a social distance of the new and tighter locks ”. The situation appears to be grimmer than anticipated, we have already lost 7% of economic output from the projected baseline scenario in 2019. It translates to a loss of more than USD 6 trillion of global GDP. Even a 1% improvement in global GDP from the baseline scenario will add more than USD 800 billion in global output, certainly compensating for the loss of a much lower order to an economy sector due to the omission .
Just a signal to ensure timely and affordable access to vaccines and treatments will provide a great confidence boost for a revival of demand in the economy. With the emergence of successful vaccines, there seems to be some hope on the horizon. But how will these be accessible and affordable to the global population? The fundamental question is whether there will be enough Covid-19 vaccines to go around. As things stand, even the most optimistic scenarios today cannot guarantee access to Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics for the majority of the population, in rich as well as poor countries, by the end of 2021. All members One World Trade Organization has agreed on one account that there is an urgent need to expand the manufacturing capacity for vaccines and therapeutics to meet the huge global needs. The TRIPS Waiver Proposal seeks to meet this need by ensuring that IP increases do not come from increasing such manufacturing capacity.
Why existing flexibility under the TRIPS Agreement is not sufficient
Existing flexibilities under the TRIPS Agreement are not sufficient as these were not designed with pandemics in mind. Mandatory licenses are issued on a country-by-case, case-by-case and product-by-product basis, where each jurisdiction with an IP regime would have to issue separate mandatory licenses, making cooperation among countries extremely burdensome in practice. While we encourage the use of TRIPS flexibility, it is also time-consuming and cumbersome to implement. Therefore, only their use can ensure timely access to affordable vaccines and treatments. Similarly, we have not seen very encouraging progress on the COVID-19-WHO Technology Access Pool or the C-TAP initiative, which encourages voluntary IP involvement,
technology and data to support the global share and scale of manufacturing of COVID-19 medical products. Voluntary licenses, even where they exist, are expressed in confidence. Their terms and conditions are not transparent. Their scope is limited to specific quantities or for a limited subset of countries, thus encouraging nationalism rather than true international cooperation.
Why do we need to go beyond existing global collaboration initiatives?
Global collaboration initiatives like COVAX Mechanism and the ACT-Accelerator are inadequate to meet the huge global needs of 7.8 billion people. The ACT-A initiative aims to procure 2 billion doses of vaccines by the end of next year and distribute them fairly worldwide. With a two-dose regime, however, this will only cover 1 billion people. That means that even if ACT-A is fully funded and successful, which is not currently the case, there would be insufficient vaccines for the majority of the global population.
Past experience
In the initial few months of the current pandemic, we found that shelves were being emptied by those who had access to masks, PPEs, sanitizers, gloves and other essential COVID-19 items even not needed immediately. The same should not happen to vaccines. Eventually, the world managed to ramp up the manufacturing of COVID-19 essentials as there were no IP blockages. At present, we need the same pool of IP rights and information for increasing vaccine manufacturing and treatments, which has unfortunately not been the case, which requires a waiver.
The pandemic – a remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime event – has prompted the cooperation of many stakeholders. The knowledge and skills of scientists, researchers, public health experts and universities that have enabled the huge cross-country collaborations and public funding that have facilitated the development of vaccines in record time – and not just IP!
Way forward
TRIPS ‘waiver proposal is a proportionate and targeted response to the extraordinary public health crisis the world is facing today. Such a waiver falls well within the provisions of Article IX of the Marrakesh Treaty which established the WTO. It can help ensure that people’s lives are not lost because of the lack of timely and affordable access to vaccines. Adoption of the waiver will also re-establish the credibility of the World Trade Organization and demonstrate that a multilateral trading system remains relevant and capable of delivering in times of crisis. Now is the time for members of the World Trade Organization to act and adopt the waiver to save lives and help get the economy back on the path of recovery quickly.
While making the vaccines available is a science test, making them accessible and affordable will be a test of humanity. History should remind us of the “AAA score” ie for the Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments and not just one “A score” for Availability. Future generations deserve nothing less.