The future of Covid-19 vaccines: Will there be a patent waiver?

As much of the world continues to reel under the coronavirus crisis, there is an increasingly frantic scramble for more and more vaccines in countries seeking to protect their people against the disease. One of the possible solutions to the vaccine crunch which is being talked about now, particularly in low and middle-income countries, is a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines under the umbrella of the 164-member World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The patent waiver was proposed jointly by India and South Africa at the WTO in October last year to temporarily do away with the provision relating to not only vaccines but all Covid-related medicines and technologies under the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Interestingly, there has been no mention as to how long the waiver should be in place. More than 100 countries have so far backed the waiver move.