Dissenting countries ask at WTO, if spare capacity exists to produce vaccines
Premium- Countries including UK, Australia and the EU asked co-sponsors such as India and South Africa whether spare capacity exists even if a patent waiver was granted
Dissenting economies, including the UK, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia and the EU on the patent waiver proposal for covid-19 vaccines and drugs have asked co-sponsors such as India and South Africa if spare manufacturing capacity is available to produce vaccines even if a waiver is granted.
In a meeting of the TRIPS Council on 23 February, minutes of which were made public by the WTO on Tuesday, EU said while it agrees that the ramping up of manufacturing capacity is a clear priority now and any available manufacturing capacity anywhere in the world should be used to the full extent, “any indication of where underused capacity exists as indicated by some members would be very welcome".
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“However, the EU still considers that if such capacity exists and can be deployed quickly, the best way of using it to the fullest is by disseminating the technology and know-how of those who developed the vaccines through a collaboration with other companies that can contribute to the developers' manufacturing capacity. Intellectual property is a key factor in providing a framework that enables this collaboration," the EU added.
Switzerland said the proposed TRIPS Waiver would undermine the efforts currently ongoing, to scale up manufacturing to achieve such global access rather than facilitating global access to covid-19 vaccines. “Due to high quality requirements and patient safety, it must be thoroughly examined on a case-by-case basis, whether a licensee is at all capable of producing the respective product at the required quality standards, within a reasonable period and at an acceptable price. Furthermore, the licensee must have the necessary infrastructure to produce as well as to distribute the product," it added.
Both UK and Australia also said they are encouraging members to identify where idle capacity exists that can be utilized to address manufacturing demands, how intellectual property (IP) is related to supply shortages, and how the proposed Waiver would be an immediate solution to identified production shortages. “We are also interested in hearing responses to the queries we, and other delegations, raised at the previous informal Council. The UK stands ready to engage in continued evidence-based discussions," it added.
Singapore said while members recognize that there are real and ongoing challenges in ensuring equitable and timely access to covid-19 diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics (DVTs), but what is less clear is whether IP rights have been the actual obstacle. “If we are serious in finding a solution, we must avoid reducing the multi-faceted challenges to a single dimension that focuses only on IP rights. Instead, we must address systemic and deep-seated issues that require a holistic and comprehensive approach to find the right and effective solution," it added.
The US, however, took a conciliatory stand, holding that it is committed to working with international partners to end the devastating public health and economic effects of this pandemic. “Furthermore, the US will work with partners to identify practical ways to catalyse the needed capacity to end this pandemic and respond to the next one. It is paramount that we collectively increase access to and facilitate equitable distribution of covid-19 vaccines and that we support policies that drive the rapid development of new vaccines, medicines, and other health products," it added.
Responding to some of the criticism, India said that once the Waiver is in place, the existing manufacturing capacity worldwide can be put to immediate use for production of covid products. “Our past experience suggests that if supported with adequate regulatory framework, vaccines are relatively quick and inexpensive to make. The other option is to scale up the existing capacity through brown-field investments which can be done in a few months. Yet another option is to invest in creating new capacity through green-field investments, a matter of a few quarters," it added.
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