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COVID-19 Vaccine, TRIPS, and Global Health Diplomacy: India’s Role at the WTO Platform
- Source :
- BioMed Research International, Vol 2021 (2021), BioMed Research International
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Hindawi Limited, 2021.
-
Abstract
- In light of the devastation caused by COVID-19, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and vaccine research and development (R&D) have been occupying a prominent position in the field of global health diplomacy (GHD). Most countries, international organizations, and charitable organizations have been engaged in the R&D of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure timely affordability and accessibility to all countries. Concomitantly, the World Trade Organization (WTO) provides some provisions and enforcements regarding copyrights, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, and industrial designs. Given these safeguards, it is considered that intellectual property rights (IPRs) have become major barriers to the affordability and accessibility of vaccines/medicines/technology, particularly to the developing/least developed countries. Realizing the gravity of the pandemic impact, as well as its huge population and size, India has elevated this issue in its global health diplomacy by submitting a joint proposal with South Africa to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a temporary waiver of IPRs to ensure timely affordability and accessibility of COVID-19 medical products to all countries. However, the issue of the temporary waive off had become a geopolitical issue. Countries that used to claim per se as strong advocates of human rights, egalitarianism, and healthy democracy have opposed this proposal. In this contrasting milieu, this paper is aimed at examining how the TRIPS has become a barrier for developing countries’ development and distribution of vaccines/technology; secondly, how India strategizes its role in the WTO in pursuant of its global health diplomacy? We conclude that the IPRs regime should not become a barrier to the accessibility/affordability of essential drugs and vaccines. To ensure access, India needs to get more engaged in GHD with all the involved global stakeholders to get strong support for their joint proposal. The developed countries that rejected/resisted the proposal can rethink their full support.
- Subjects :
- Vaccine research
COVID-19 Vaccines
Drug Industry
Human Rights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
media_common.quotation_subject
India
Review Article
International trade
Intellectual property
Global Health
Health Services Accessibility
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Political science
Global health
Humans
Diplomacy
Essential drugs
media_common
General Immunology and Microbiology
SARS-CoV-2
business.industry
COVID-19
General Medicine
Medicine
TRIPS architecture
Public Health
business
Developed country
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 23146141 and 23146133
- Volume :
- 2021
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BioMed Research International
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....65b4fdf121faf0ce67054f874289bdd0