With the World Trade Organization's (WTO) mega ministerial conference (MC) set to be held in June, India is taking on developed nations who want to dilute the plan for a temporary global intellectual property waiver for COVID vaccines, sources said.
Persistent pressure by rich economies such as the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Canada have till now blocked a waiver of the global Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for COVID-19 vaccines at the WTO. Sources said that these nations are now pushing to limit the scope for the TRIPS waiver before WTO member nations meet on June 12 for the 12th MC in Geneva.
Nearly 20 months after India's proposal to temporarily suspend certain parts of the WTO Agreement on TRIPS so that vaccines and testing technology for COVID-19 could be easily shared, developed nations have continued to hold up talks. Suspending parts of the agreement would allow countries to overcome the legal challenges posed by patents to ensure timely provisioning of affordable medical products.
According to the New York Times's Global Vaccination Tracker, vaccination rates continue to lag in low-income countries, where only 17 percent of the population has received at least one dose of a vaccine. In Africa, only 22 percent of the population has received at least a single dose. In high- and upper-middle-income countries, 80 percent of the population has received at least one dose.
While India has the unofficial backing of more than 120 countries, major global powers have continued to stall the talks, citing grave discomfort at a “potential blanket suspension of the terms of the TRIPS agreement”. Ongoing talks at the WTO over the issue stalled yet again earlier this year, despite a recent push by India to begin virtual interactions among member states on the issue.
Apart from India, nations such as South Africa, the African Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP group), Egypt, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia have stressed that the WTO should address the challenges posed by intellectual property rights (IPR) in augmenting supply production.
However, there is little that could be done to break the deadlock right now even though India's proposal has the support of so many WTO member nations. “Since all WTO decisions have to be unanimous, there is nothing that can be done even if a single nation is unwilling,” an official said.
Slow pace
Earlier this year, Geneva Health Files, a Switzerland-based newsletter portal that tracks developments in intellectual property, reported that efforts were underway at the WTO to fundamentally change the vaccine waiver and cut out India, South Africa, China, and other developing nations from discussions.
This was based on the premise that ongoing meetings over the waiver were held among richer economies under the ambit of the WTO. These members had discussed the option of 'geographical exclusion', whereby COVID drug manufacturers in certain countries may be exempted from the waiver. Sources said India is fighting against the move as of now.
The global trade body has also been unable to hold its all-important MC meetings. Talks have gone awry in the absence of scheduled MCs held by the WTO, which are attended by trade ministers of all member nations and take joint decisions affecting global trade rules.
The pandemic had initially scuttled plans for the 12th MC to be held in June 2020 in Kazakhstan. Subsequently, the third wave of COVID infections in Europe halted plans to hold the MC in Geneva in December 2021.
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