A research paper by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has supported the joint proposal by India and South Africa that urges the World Trade Organization to grant a temporary waiver of the specific provisions of the global intellectual property rights (IPR) agreement for unhindered supply of vaccines and medical products to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This waiver will ensure that intellectual property rights do not restrict rapid scaling up of manufacturing and do not hinder an equitable and affordable access to vaccines and treatments throughout the globe,” UNCTAD said in the paper, adding that multiple manufacturers can start producing viable vaccines simultaneously through this.
The joint proposal calls for a waiver for all WTO members of certain provisions of copyrights, industrial designs, patents and protection of undisclosed information in the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement for prevention, containment or treatment of Covid-19.
Made in October last year, the proposal has the support of almost a hundred countries now. However, it has not moved forward to text-based negotiations as the US, EU, UK, Switzerland, Japan and Australia, among others have opposed it.
UNCTAD said that one way to ensure adequate supply and equitable distribution of vaccines, medicines and medical technologies is to remove some of the artificial barriers created by IPRs in the area of technology transfer and to encourage manufacturers and research groups to work together towards a common goal.
Emphasising that emerging economies with more advanced medical research capabilities, as India, could take the lead and make a strong call for common action and resource pooling, it said: “Enhancing manufacturing capacities of vaccines in as many developing countries as possible can be an important way forward in protecting against future pandemics”.
The paper represents the authors’ views and not of UNCTAD secretariat, the Geneva-based multilateral agency said.
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