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G7 kicks out the TRIPS waiver

17 Jun 2021

  • Global structural solutions are failing developing countries

By Meenuka Mathew   Developed countries have proved that the vaccines work well in bending Covid-19 curves. The Group of Seven (G7) nations had the opportunity to reduce the devastating impact of the pandemic by prioritising support to waiving the patents related to the Covid-19 vaccines, allowing the world to access more vaccines and to recover from economic and social losses. Instead, the world had a glimpse of what it looks like to have vaccinated most of the population when the G7 leaders met in Cornwall, England with no masks on and enjoyed beach walks in the middle of a global pandemic. The summit’s final communiqué was full of commitments and pledges, including vaccine donations, more funding for the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility and the World Health Organisation (WHO). Unfortunately, the G7 ignored the demand of the majority of the world to support the negotiations in waiving the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The world needs 11 billion vaccines to vaccinate 70% of the global population. The G7 Nations pledge to provide one billion doses, of which half comes from the US. However, in the absence of sharing the knowhow behind the Covid-19 vaccines, it is unclear as to how to meet the global vaccination targets. Therefore, mere pledges cannot bring concrete solutions to a pandemic that has hit the whole world. When the Covid-19 outbreak signalled a devastating crisis in early 2020, the international community, including governments of developed economies and civil society organisations, responded to the crisis by prioritising vaccine development. As a result, currently there are 17 vaccines authorised by at least one national regulatory body. One of the significant collective responses to fight Covid-19 has been developing the COVAX facility that ensures equitable vaccine allocation with a target of two billion doses for 92 of the world’s poorest countries. However, in reality, COVAX has only managed to meet 4.1% of its target (83 million vaccines), indicating a failing reality of the only global solution to ensure vaccine equity. The fact remains that developing countries like Sri Lanka, in the absence of vaccines, continue to be vulnerable to Covid-19 waves. Thus, the availability of vaccines remains a bottleneck impeding the progress and, therefore, the way out of the pandemic. An in-depth diagnosis of this problem reveals insufficient manufacturing of vaccines as the root cause. Intellectual property rights (IPR) remain a significant limitation to manufacture more vaccines. The proposal by India and South Africa to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on waiving the TRIPS hopes to address the vaccine shortage, especially at a time when the world cannot rely on mere pledges and the role of international organisations such as the WHO is overshadowed by the political agendas of powerful countries. Unfortunately, the G7 summit defenestrated the TRIPS waiver, which would allow the scaling up of the vaccine production. The vaccine shortage and the equity in access is not a surprise when 45% of all vaccine doses are administered only for 16% of the world population of high-income countries, as they secured a disproportionate share of the early productions (Our World in Data). As a result, countries like Sri Lanka have fully vaccinated only 2.2% of the population when the US and Israel can achieve more than 50%. Therefore, it is adverse that as COVAX fails its targets, the world’s poorest 92 countries would not be fully vaccinated before the end of 2023 or beyond. Temporarily waiving patent monopolies will not end all the future innovation to develop vaccines and drugs. The proposal is specific to the Covid-19 vaccine and its related medications for a maximum of three years. The cost analysis of Oxfam indicated that if the IPR are waived, developing countries can be vaccinated at an estimated cost of $ 6.6 billion. In contrast, if the TRIPS waiver proposal never sees the light, the cost of vaccinating the population of low and middle-income countries could reach $ 80 billion. Why was the IP of the vaccines not addressed by the world leaders and organisations while creating global solutions for Covid-19? Was it purposefully neglected so that the pharmaceutical giants are not disturbed, and can ensure more than enough vaccines to the world’s powerful? When the TRIPS can be amended and waived in exceptional cases, why are a few countries hesitant to stop millions of people from dying and suffering? Suppose developing countries manage to vaccinate at least half of their population by mid-2021: The global economic loss will amount to $ 4 trillion. The estimated global economic cost of not vaccinating the citizens of developing countries would be nearly $ 9 trillion, according to the US’ National Bureau of Economic Research. Even after months of advocacy, the TRIPS waiver proposal has just managed to initiate the discussion on a text-based process, which the WTO TRIPS Council will be discussing this week. The revised proposal demands waiver for health products and technologies for the prevention, treatment, or containment of Covid-19 and any IP issues concerning the products and technologies, materials or components, and methods and means of manufacture. The Covid-19 pandemic has given the world the best opportunity to test the existing structures, which often are disconnected from reality. It is high time to acknowledge that most of the current regional structures – the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), the African Union (AU) and others – are weak. This is because they tend to depend on the Global North and the politics of international organisations, the WTO, the G7, and bilateral agreements across the world. This pandemic is only the start of a much more deadly crisis that the world will face with climate change and diminishing ecosystems. As the dependency on fragile global structures continues, developing countries will lose lives and face crises in economic and social systems. As the world struggles to convince the powerful, it is critical to advocate for policy and structural solutions based on trust, reciprocity, and collective action to face global crises that await the world. In this context, the Sri Lankan Government and the diplomatic community should support and advocate for the TRIPS waiver through the country’s bilateral relationships, demanding the world powers, including Japan and Singapore, to prioritise vaccine availability to overcome the pandemic. TRIPS waiver is the only global strategy to increase the supply of Covid-19 vaccines for all. (The writer is a Teaching and Research Fellow at the Indian O.P. Jindal Global University’s School of Government and Public Policy)


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