Deir an Coimisiún Eorpach go dtacaíonn sé le haistriú teicneolaíochta le haghaidh vacsaíní chuig tíortha i mbéal forbartha

In response to a question about a South African and Indian-led proposal to waive intellectual property rights for vaccine production in developing countries, European Commission trade spokesperson Miriam Garcia Ferrer told journalists that the current view of the European Union was that the problem of access to vaccines would not be resolved by waiving patent rights. 

Dúirt Garcia Ferrer nach raibh an fhadhb cheart i gcumas déantúsaíochta leordhóthanach chun na cainníochtaí riachtanacha a tháirgeadh. Ba dhíol sásaimh don Choimisiún Eorpach ráiteas Ard-Stiúrthóir an WTO Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala a dúirt gur chóir go mbeadh tríú bealach ann chun rochtain ar vacsaíní a leathnú trí aistriú teicneolaíochta a éascú laistigh de na rialacha iltaobhacha, chun taighde agus nuálaíocht a spreagadh agus ag an am céanna comhaontuithe ceadúnaithe a cheadú a chuidigh le hacmhainní déantúsaíochta a mhéadú. 

Garcia Ferrer said: “We are looking forward to working under her leadership to promote this collaboration between companies to enhance the technology transfer and manufacturing capacity. So just to sum up, this collaboration is happening already right now. If there will be problems in this voluntary sharing of technology, we are happy to discuss it within the WTO framework.” She acknowledged that this could ultimately include compulsory licenses of patents without the consent of the owner.

At a recent event (9 March), hosted by the UK think tank Chatham House, Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to do more to ramp up production in developing countries to combat the vaccine supply shortage. She said co-operation on trade, and action at the WTO, would help accelerate vaccine scale-up.

Okonjo-Iweala told the Global C19 Vaccine Supply Chain and Manufacturing Summit: “It is in everyone’s self-interest to co-operate in dealing with this problem of the global commons.” 

Okonjo-Iweala saw cause for hope in the first vaccine deliveries by the COVAX facility, the global mechanism for procuring and equitably distributing COVID-19 vaccines. Nevertheless, production and delivery volumes remained too low: “We have to scale up and scale out COVID-19 vaccine production, particularly in emerging markets and developing countries.” 

By bringing more production online around the world, vaccine manufacturers would send a signal that they are taking action, and “that people and governments in low- and middle-income countries can expect to get access to affordable vaccines within a reasonable timeframe”.

Aiseolas

Okonjo-Iweala observed that companies in India and elsewhere were already manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines under licence.

The WTO director general also said: “Scarcity of raw materials, shortages of qualified and experienced personnel, and supply-chain problems, are linked to export restrictions and prohibitions, as well as excessive bureaucracy. The WTO's mandate on trade facilitation, quantitative trade restrictions, and trade policy monitoring are relevant to the latter challenges in particular.”

Nevertheless, Okonjo-Iweala noted that WTO rules do allow for export restrictions or prohibitions to be “temporarily applied to prevent or relieve critical shortages” of essential products. That said, such restrictions must be notified to all members. Restrictions should be transparent, proportionate to the problem at hand, and members should provide timelines for when they will be phased out.”

On the proposal to waive standard WTO intellectual property rules for COVID-related vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, the director general put the proposal in its historic context: “Many of the proposal’s supporters are developing and least developed countries, deeply marked by the memory of unaffordable HIV/AIDS drugs. Many, many people died who should not have. More recently, they remember being left at the back of the queue for H1N1 vaccines as richer countries bought up available supplies, which in the end were not used.” 

Togra na hAfraice Theas / Indiach

Phléigh baill an WTO an togra a chuir an Afraic Theas agus an India isteach le déanaí ag éileamh tarscaoileadh ó fhorálacha áirithe de Chomhaontú TRIPS (Gnéithe a Bhaineann le Trádáil de Chearta Maoine Intleachtúla) maidir le “cosc, srianadh nó cóireáil” COVID-19. Ó cuireadh isteach é, fuair an togra tuilleadh tacaíochta ón gCéinia, Eswatini, Mósaimbíc, an Phacastáin, an Bholaiv, Veiniséala, an Mhongóil, an tSiombáib, an Éigipt agus Grúpa na hAfraice laistigh den WTO. 

Áitíonn an lucht tacaíochta go n-éascódh tarscaoileadh oibleagáidí áirithe faoin gcomhaontú rochtain ar tháirgí míochaine inacmhainne agus scálú suas déantúsaíocht agus soláthar táirgí míochaine riachtanacha, go dtí go mbeidh an vacsaíniú forleathan i bhfeidhm agus go bhfuil tromlach dhaonra an domhain imdhíonachta. 

Mar sin féin, tá easpa comhdhearcaidh agus éagsúlachta ann maidir leis an ról atá ag maoin intleachtúil maidir leis an gcuspóir a bhaint amach chun rochtain thráthúil agus shlán a sholáthar ar vacsaíní sábháilte, éifeachtúla agus inacmhainne do chách. Áitíonn lucht tacaíochta nár úsáideadh na cumais déantúsaíochta vacsaíní atá ann cheana sa domhan i mbéal forbartha mar gheall ar bhacainní IP. D'iarr toscaireachtaí eile samplaí nithiúla den áit a mbeadh IP ina bhac nach bhféadfadh na solúbthachtaí TRIPS atá ann cheana aghaidh a thabhairt orthu.

Dúirt cathaoirleach na Comhairle TRIPS atá ag dul as oifig, Ambasadóir Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter na hAfraice Theas, go bhfuil gá le gníomh sciobtha chun cabhrú le táirgeadh agus dáileadh vacsaín COVID-19 a mhéadú. D'iarr sí ar bhaill giaranna a athrú agus bogadh i dtreo díospóireachta atá dírithe ar réiteach.

Tá an chéad chruinniú rialta eile de chuid Chomhairle TRIPS beartaithe don 8-9 Meitheamh, ach d’aontaigh na baill cruinnithe breise a mheas i mí Aibreáin d’fhonn dul chun cinn féideartha ar an bplé um tharscaoileadh IP a mheas.

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