Global inequities in access to COVID-19 health products and technologies: A political economy analysis.

This paper presents a political economy analysis of global inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests. We adapt a conceptual model used for analysing the political economy of global extraction and health to examine the politico-economic factors affecting access to COVID-19 health products and technologies in four interconnected layers: the social, political, and historical context; politics, institutions, and policies; pathways to ill-health; and health consequences. Our analysis finds that battles over access to COVID-19 products occur in a profoundly unequal playing field, and that efforts to improve access that do not shift the fundamental power imbalances are bound to fail. Inequitable access has both direct effects on health (preventable illness and death) and indirect effects through exacerbation of poverty and inequality. We highlight how the case of COVID-19 products reflects broader patterns of structural violence, in which the political economy is structured to improve and lengthen the lives of those in the Global North while neglecting and shortening the lives of those in the Global South. We conclude that achieving equitable access to pandemic response products requires shifting longstanding power imbalances and the institutions and processes that entrench and enable them.

The TRIPS Waiver Decision at the World Trade Organization: Too Little Too Late!

The recently adopted Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver decision at the World Trade Organization is a grossly inadequate and insincere response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper criticizes the TRIPS waiver for being faulty on several fronts such as: excluding COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics from its fold and focusing only on COVID-19 vaccines;restricting its coverage to only patents and leaving out other intellectual property rights;excluding developed countries that possess manufacturing and technological capability from being eligible exporters of COVID-19 vaccines;and its perplexing silence on the transfer of technology. It will have negligible impact on fighting the pandemic, sets an enfeebled example for the future, and is a classic case of too little too late. Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Asian Society of International Law.

Exploring risks of investor claims brought forth after the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19.

This research plans to explore the risks of the investment claims involved in the ongoing technology transfers to COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers based on the recently approved 'Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights' (TRIPS) waiver. These investment claims are based on the various intellectual property rights protected under international investment laws. The recently approved TRIPS waiver only deals with the patent rights involved in producing the COVID-19 vaccine but does not deal with the other related intellectual property rights such as trade secrets. This work sounds the alarmed of investment dispute for the mass-producing of vaccines based on the TRIPS waiver. The research suggests a plan by which the Indian government can address the global issue of COVID-19 technology transfer in India.

Scaling Up the Global COVID-19 Vaccination Program: Production, Allocation, and Distribution with an Emphasis on Equity.

After just over 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to contribute to extensive morbidity and mortality worldwide. In addition to the burden and loss caused by the virus itself, collateral consequences of the pandemic wreak havoc on the global economy, disrupt essential health care services and childhood education, and weaken existing mechanisms of preventing other infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis (TB). These impacts are unequally felt in low- and middle-income countries due to an insufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines and an unfair allocation process of distributing vaccines worldwide. An emphasis on equity throughout the continued scaling up of the global COVID-19 vaccination program with production, allocation, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines could begin to mitigate the disparities in vaccinations seen across the world. Current policy solutions including COVAX, intellectual property waivers, technology transfer in South Africa, and dose donations are examined to evaluate efficacy in increasing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Alternatives

This paper is part of the SPE Theme on the Political Economy of COVID-19.

Alternatives

Canada's resistance to the COVID-19 waiver of intellectual property rights at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for so long remains a conundrum given the Trudeau government's stated devotion to “progressive trade.” This article summarizes Canada's global pandemic efforts, arguing that progressive trade in fact helps to explain its waiver stance. Progressive trade evokes trade liberalization as a simple, even magical “fetish” that realizes unconscious desires for disavowal, mastery, and foreclosure. Trade fetishism asserts itself against the waiver, revealing the limits of Canada's approach and the fantasies that animate it. This paper is part of the SPE Theme on the Political Economy of COVID-19.

REAL SOLUTIONS TO ADDRESS VACCINE INEQUITY

As many high income countries end COVID-19 restrictions due to high vaccination rates, the virus continues to negatively impact low- and middle-income countries whose vaccination rates remain low. This article will outline the current extent of vaccine equity throughout the globe and document efforts by the People's Vaccine Alliance Ireland to persuade the Irish government to support effective measures to address this issue. It will outline why allowing low income countries to produce their own generic versions of the COVID-19 vaccine through a TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver is the most effective way to ensure that most people around the globe are vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Waiver of Certain Intellectual Property Rights Provisions of the TRIPS for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19: A Review of the Proposal under WTO Jurisprudence

This article is a critical legal analysis of the proposed TRIPS waiver under World Trade Organization (WTO) law. It reviews the existing TRIPS flexibilities and the "August 2003 TRIPS waiver", highlighting the obstacles to achieving the goals of these legal instruments. It demonstrates that numerous critical TRIPS flexibilities, notably TRIPS Article 31bis, are ineffective, prompting some countries to submit a new waiver proposal to the WTO. It highlights several WTO rules that are also quite ambiguous. This paper argues that a WTO clarification might be an alternative to the new TRIPS waiver proposal if it is ultimately rejected due to a lack of consensus among WTO members. Finally, this article emphasises the importance of adopting a balanced approach that may simplify complicated TRIPS rules, decrease the risk of trade-based retaliation and improve collaboration in knowledge transfer and scaling up the manufacture of and access to lifesaving vaccines, pharmaceuticals and healthcare equipment.

Solidarity across borders: A pragmatic need for global COVID-19 vaccine equity.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most disruptive social, political and economic crises of the modern era. In today's interconnected world, the pandemic shows how quickly infectious disease outbreaks can spread across continents. Since the initial outbreak, the introduction of several vaccines has brought hope to a virus-weary world. In spite of the remarkable results of approved vaccines, many lower-middle countries are yet to receive a single vaccine shot. This manuscript highlights the fact that global health inequities have intensified during the pandemic. While many wealthy nations have ramped up vaccination efforts and cautiously opened their borders, many in the developed world are still waiting to be inoculated. With the rise of several resistant variants, this work argues that public health policy experts demand a greater need for global solidarity in vaccine access. This is not only important ethically, but it is also a pragmatic response.