EU parliament extends support to India-South Africa's COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver

The European Union (EU) parliament has also extended its support to India-South Africa’s joint proposal for COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver to enable large-scale production of jabs that are in dire need. The support comes from an indirect route as the EU lawmakers approved a resolution to tackle the AIDS epidemic which includes a Left demand for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines. After initially being split about the waivers, the EU’s Left’s Co-President Manon Aubry said, “Thanks to our amendment, the European Parliament now officially supports the TRIPS waiver.” With 162 abstentions, the resolution was supported by 468 votes and opposed by 63.

“Parliament is sending a clear message to the Council and the Commission who’ve been persistently opposing India and South Africa’s proposal in the WTO. It is now time for them to stop defending Big Pharma profits above people’s lives. Inaction kills and the world is watching us,” Aubry added.

The EU move came after earlier this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on May 6 said that she is open for discussion on ways to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production for global immunisation. Prior to this, the United States, in a bold bid, decided to support waive patents on much-needed COVID-19 vaccines joining the stance of over 120 countries. 

However, the move was quickly opposed by Germany on May 6 that could still potentially derail the proposal at the World Trade Organisation, which requires the consensus of all members to pass. Even pharmaceutical companies have expressed their disagreement with growing support for coronavirus vaccine patent waiver, proponents also view the move as essential for the wider distribution of the jabs across the globe.

Who opposes waiver and why?

The India-South Africa proposal of October 2020 says that the property rights such as patents, industrial designs, copyright and protection of undisclosed information delays the timely access to affordable vaccines and medicines that are essential to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The nations have also demanded the waiver to be practised for an unspecified time period allowing yearly review until its termination.

Reportedly, huge drug and pharmaceutical companies oppose the proposed patent waivers including nations such as Britain, Switzerland, Germany among others. As per the Bloomberg report, spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 6 said that the leader weighed in against America’s support of the waiver saying that it would create “severe complications” for the production of vaccines. 

While the US has marked a reversal on its stance, the critics of the waiver reportedly argue that vaccine development is unpredictable and costly. Therefore, according to big players in the industry such as Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, IP protection has helped them to provide the incentive for the development of jabs in record time and the same will happen as the firms continue to tackle the new emerging variants of the coronavirus. However, proponents have also said that some of the money that drugs company are saying was utilised in vaccine production, was public funds.

IMAGE: AP/PTI