Indecisiveness on TRIPS waiver cost 2 million lives: India to WTO
"Our indecisiveness to act swiftly on removing IP barriers to ramp up production of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics have cost us 2 million more lives," said India's Ambassador to WTO Brajendra Navnit.
India on Tuesday has urged all World Trade Organisation (WTO) members to end uncertainty around the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver proposal and begin text-based negotiations.
"Our indecisiveness to act swiftly on removing Intellectual Property (IP) barriers to ramp up production of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics have cost us 2 million more lives," said India's Ambassador to WTO Brajendra Navnit at the informal meeting of TRIPS members on May 31.
In a strongly-worded statement, the Indian government said due to developed nations acquiring vaccines many times more than their domestic needs, the rest of the world may have to wait for their jabs till 2023 or even 2024.
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India and the co-sponsors of the waiver proposal believe that the TRIPS waiver is a necessary and temporary legal measure for removing IP barriers needed to boost the production of vaccines.
A revised draft of the proposal was submitted on May 23 demanding that the waiver be in place for three years and should be reviewed annually. 63 nations including India are supporting the proposal at the WTO. Agreements at WTO require consensus among all 164 member states.
The Indian envoy urged members to pay heed to the IMF report which said immediate investments of $50 billion by developed countries into global vaccination efforts would yield $9 trillion in economic growth by 2025.
While the US has agreed to support text-based negotiations for a TRIPS waiver, there has been resistance from the EU, Australia, UK, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
There are disagreements among members on whether and to what extent Ip rights were holding back efforts to tackle the pandemic. Some nations opposed to the waiver have raised questions about its duration and have sought more time to consider text-based negotiations.
While some nations have argued that the waiver will not augment vaccine production, India said production of penicillin after World War II and ARV medication for AIDS only happened due to a global collaborative effort.
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"Not allowing text-based negotiations will do more harm to WTO's credibility and this collective failure will be remembered," said the Indian government’s statement.
(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)
First Published: Jun 1, 2021 5:24 PM IST
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