Further delay on the TRIPS waiver of patent rights for Covid-19 vaccines
The call for the exemption of Covid-19 patent rights has been going for a while, especially noticeable within America, yet it does not quite meet the expectations. As one of the latest development with the progress of the exemption, recently, the proposed TRIPS waiver of patent rights for Covid-19 drugs, vaccines, and devices has taken an intense downturn.
The proposal for the Covid-19 vaccines waiver of IP rights begin when India and South Africa suggested it in October 2020, calling for a waiver on obligations under the TRIPS Agreement under its Copyright and Related Rights, Industrial Designs, Patents, and Protection of Undisclosed Information.
From that point forward, there have been many calls, asking the world leaders and pharmaceutical companies to temporarily waive the IP rights of the Covid-19 drugs, vaccines, and devices.
One of the most notable efforts arise on July 22, 2021, when WTO members decided to begin text-based negotiations on the waiver. However, due to many reasons, the negotiations come to a halt and no reports were issued.
The supporter of the waiver made another noteworthy effort a couple of months later with the 12th Ministerial Conference scheduled in December in Geneva. The meeting is critically important as there has been much hope that the conference will finally give the world a conclusive answer to the problem of IP rights waiver for Covid-19 drugs, vaccines, along other necessary tools to fight the pandemic.
However, ironically, the meeting for the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic was also put to a stop due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In November 2021, WTO Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has postponed indefinitely the organization’s 12th Ministerial Conference due to the Omicron variant – probably the most dangerous variant of the Covid-19 virus up to date.
A need for the exemption of IP rights for Covid-19 vaccines
Although the probability of a consensus decision on the problem of the exemption of IP rights for Covid-19 vaccines might be dim, the members of the TRIPS Council meeting in late November stated that the world should still try to reach that goal.
The Omicron variant should not be considered as a failure of the fight but should be taken as a new beacon, calling for the consensus agreement between all the countries in the world.
However, not all parties see it that way.
According to Shukadev Khuraijam, a partner at Remfry & Sagar in Gurugram office, the emergence of the Omicron variant caused the cancellation of the conference is ironic and the new variant also underscored the gravity of the situation: “It is a fact flashed many times in the media by the World Health Organization and other organizations that there is severe inequity in Covid-19 vaccine distribution amongst the world’s population with developing and underdeveloped economies facing the brunt. This state of affairs is expected to continue with national economies once again focusing more on domestic needs versus international commitments, in this new wave fanned by the Omicron variant.”
Although the proposal for the Covid-19 vaccines waiver has been backed by more than 100 countries including some of the strongest economies on the planet like the US, China, Russia, etc., there is still a large number of opposer to the waiver like Great Britain, Switzerland, South Korea, and even the European Union.
Regarding this matter, Khuraijam has stated that to overcome the opposition by these great countries, the world needs a lot of discussions and accordingly, a lot of time to reach the probability to achieve a consensus on the matter: “What the world needs is more certainty in these uncertain times and a time-bound resolution for the IP waiver and the associated proposal is of paramount importance. Whether or not the IP waiver proposal solves the access to vaccine question, one may not have a clear answer, but a final consensus by the WTO on the issue is required.”
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