The Inequitable Global Access to Covid 19 Vaccines – A Case For A Waiver From Certain Provisions Of The Agreement On Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights

The Inequitable Global Access to Covid 19 Vaccines – A Case For  A Waiver From Certain Provisions Of The Agreement On  Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights

Introduction

The Covid-19 pandemic pummelled the world and caused severe disruptions to global economies. Therefore, the development of vaccines understandably came as welcome news and an indication that perhaps there is a ray of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. The development of these vaccines has brought to the fore, historical issues of inequality and dominance in the global marketplace by wealthy countries.

Wealthy nations have ordered Covid-19 vaccines which vastly exceed what they require while developing nations will have to wait a while longer for vaccines to become readily available. On 18th January 2021, at the 148th session of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO), the WHO Director-General stated that:

“More than 39 million doses of vaccine have now been administered in at least 49 higher income countries. Just 25 doses have been given in one lowest-income country. Not 25 million; not 25 thousand; just 25. I need to be blunt: the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure- and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries… The situation is compounded by the fact that most manufacturers have prioritized regulatory approval in rich countries where the profits are highest, rather than submitting full dossiers to WHO.”

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property. It is an international legal agreement between all the member countries of the WTO which came into effect on 1st January 1995. TRIPS establishes minimum standards for regulation by national governments of different forms of intellectual property as applied to nationals of other WTO member countries.

The aim of TRIPS as set out in its preamble includes the reduction of distortions and impediments to international trade, taking into account the need to promote effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), and to ensure that measures and procedures to enforce IPRs do not themselves become barriers to legitimate trade. These are largely achieved by bringing IPRs together under a common international set of rules and establishing minimum uniform standards of IPR protection which allow for trans-national flow of technology. TRIPS plays a pivotal role in enabling trade in know-how and the resolution of trade disputes over IPRs.