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Indonesia backs proposed WTO waiver to push for COVID-19 vaccine equity
The country has joined the ranks of developing countries urging the WTO to waive patent rights amid vaccine hoarding by rich countries.
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Journalists wait to receive their first vaccine dose on Feb. 25, 2021 at a COVID-19 vaccination drive in Senayan, Jakarta. Indonesia is proceeding with phase two of its vaccine rollout, even as it waits to receive additional supplies through the COVAX Facility. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
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ndonesia is backing a proposal by developing countries to waive patent regulations that might allow for faster and better vaccine distribution, a move that developed countries have continued to block.
India, a leading producer of generic drugs, and South Africa, which has been reportedly lagging in its vaccine rollout, lodged the proposal on Oct. 2, 2020 with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The proposal “for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19” requests a waiver from several provisions in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), “such as patents, industrial designs, copyright and protection of undisclosed information” so they “do not create barriers to the timely access to affordable medical products including vaccines [...] essential to combat COVID-19”.
India and South Africa argue in the proposal that developing and least developed countries had been “especially disproportionately impacted” by the pandemic, making particular note that Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement created “institutional and legal difficulties” in importing and exporting pharmaceutical products “for countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity”.
Indonesia is among around 100 countries supporting the TRIPS waiver proposal, which also has the support of 53 cosponsors. The TRIPS council has held more than five meetings on the proposal with the latest on March 11, but it has yet to reach a consensus. The council’s members have agreed to consider additional meetings in April ahead of its scheduled meeting in June.
Read also: Indonesia rallies to keep COVID-19 vaccines, drugs affordable
But Agustaviano Sofjan, the Foreign Ministry’s director for trade, commodity and intellectual property, said he expected the proposal would be raised much later at a WTO ministerial meeting in November amid resistance from wealthy countries.
