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Priceless vaccine patents may help overcome this pandemic
YB WEB DESK. Dated: 5/8/2021 12:42:49 PM
As several countries look up to India for ramping up its COVID vaccine production, the previously experienced a shortage of raw materials for production and the high demand of vaccines for its own enormous population stood as a primary concern that inevitably led to the shortage in production and distribution of vaccines. Widely acclaimed as the pharmacy of the world, India is also the vaccine hub of the world, with nearly 60% of the total global vaccine production taking place in India. It is a field where India took over in a rather pleasantly surprising manner, ahead of the US or even China for that matter. However, now that a shortage in production has affected the global supply of vaccine to various crucial countries, India has also faced criticism for not coping with the global demands. The recent motion primarily raised by India and South Africa in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), seeking leniency on patents for COVID vaccines and other related medical supplies were backed by several nations. However, most of these nations stood as either developing or very low-income country that are the worst sufferers of this awful pandemic. As India and South Africa sought global support in their motion at the WTO to fight against COVID, effectively ramping up vaccine production for cheaper and more viable availability is actually a practical way to vaccinate a significant portion of the entire global population to get rid of this pandemic finally. As international pressure mounts on major western nations, the US has finally announced its support for this motion at the WTO. Although it is unlikely that countries housing the pharma companies holding these precious patents will support this favour, the US influence may play as the game changer in this scenario which was already much required. It is a time when lives matter more than profits. Ramping up vaccine production for meeting the required inoculation rate is the only possible way to overcome this pandemic, at least for this moment. As the developed lot of countries with lower headcounts in terms of population store vaccines in a surplus, economic disparity forces ironically overpopulated lower-income nations to struggle for vaccine availability in the first place.