WTO has announced a new change in its policy ensuring vaccine equity. WTO has announced that certain parts of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) will be waived off.
The waiving off the provisions of TRIPS will allow countries to use a patented vaccine without the permission of the patent owner. The country nevertheless does need to pay the patent owner for the usage of their patent. However, no permission is required for usage, i.e., using the technology developed by the Company.
The move has been thoroughly opposed by the Pharmaceutical companies. The Pharma brands are in disarray considering that a technology developed by them with extreme adversity and odds, would be taken away in a jiffy.
The Pharma companies state that the change isn’t going to bring equity, but it is going to make a mess out of their Intellectual Property rights. They claim that equity could be reached without diluting their IP rights.
Although people outside the Pharma industry have welcomed the move, the timing of the step is questionable. Enabling provisions of vaccine equity when the Corona epidemic is in their lowest phase since its beginning is a bit unusual. Such a move should have been introduced when the world was taking severe blows from the virus.
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