Share, Collaborate, Inoculate

Context: Patent waiver is not the only issue in easing gaps in vaccine access. Manufacturers in Third World would require handholding on technology-related matters to ensure quality.

Healthier turn in Covid-19 narrative:

• The BRICS countries endorsed a proposal helmed by India-South Africa at the WTO to waive certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement that relates to patent waivers for Covid-19 vaccines.
• The US has agreed to waive intellectual property rights (IPR) on vaccine formulae.

Positive outcomes of IPR waiver:

• Support indigenous manufacturing of mRNA vaccines: Manufacturers in developing countries can work on indigenous technologies without the fear of any legal retribution.
  • It will help currently developed indigenous manufacturing, such as an initiative by the Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, which received regulatory approval for clinical trials of its indigenous mRNA vaccine.

Hurdles remaining:

• Export restrictions: Export restriction on any of the vaccine raw materials would hold up the manufacturing/production process, impacting the overall output of the vaccine supply chain.
  • Unfortunately, the US has invoked the Defence Production Act to restrict exports of raw materials — perhaps to safeguard and boost domestic vaccine production.
• Huge supply-demand mismatch:
  • Nature recently stated that according to the pharma industry data, approximately 10 billion vaccine doses are to be made by the end of 2021.
  • On the other hand, International Monetary Fund says that the industry is probably going to end up producing only about six billion doses by the end of 2021.
  • This shortfall “increases the risk that people in low-income countries will need to wait even longer for their first doses”.

Way Forward:

• Diversified production: To address the current huge supply and demand gap worldwide, the vaccines that have already been approved for human use need to be produced in many locations.
• Develop suitable and mutually-agreed contracts: Between the companies that have developed the vaccines and the ones that will produce them.
• Continuous handholding by the manufacturer: This would be central to the eventual success of high-quality vaccine production in multiple locations.
  • The revised proposal by India and South Africa limits the waiver period to three years, with a provision to review the duration, thus trying to make it a feasible option for manufacturers.

Conclusion: The global community needs to understand that in interdependent world order, the actions of one country can create a ripple effect, negative or positive, on others.