Vaccines: IP waiver fine, but tech transfer crucial
The warning by the principal scientific advisor to the Union government that a third wave of the pandemic Covid-19 is in the offing and the Supreme Court’s assessment that the government needed to finalise a formula for the allocation, supply and distribution of oxygen in a scientific manner before the wave hits the nation bind the government into pulling up its socks to fight the pandemic. The decision of the United States administration to support a joint move by India and South Africa to waive patent for vaccines for the pandemic could add to its preparedness.
Most experts were of the view that the pandemic would stage a second coming after it started waning in the fourth quarter of last year but the government planned little or nothing for it. The Niti Aayog and the parliamentary committee for health and family welfare had flagged the increased use of medical oxygen during the first wave and wanted the government to streamline its supply and distribution mechanism. But the government had chosen to ignore most of them with the cumulative result that patients in their thousands choke
and some die across India.
The fresh thinking on The government that had cleared two vaccines, the patent regime on one developed indigenously, and then
launched the “world’s largest vaccination Covid vaccines does not
drive” in the beginning of the year did little to offer immediate relief augment their production with the result but the government that other nations now scour their vaults to must do everything export the jabs to the “world’s vaccine factory”. This is almost the same in the case of lifesaving possible to get the anti-viral drugs, too. The government technology transferred did nothing to improve the healthcare infrastructure here and production in the interregnum, with the result increased in the that only a percentage of the patients get
decent medical attention with proper care. shortest possible time
A repeat of the heart-wrenching scenes that several parts of the country now witness is totally unacceptable and the Union government must lead from the front the defensive actions against the third wave. It has presented and got passed a budget earmarking `2.23 lakh crores for the health ministry, which marked a 137 per cent hike compared with the previous year, in the light of the pandemic. This should be reflected in the preparatory work, which should also see an improvement in the infrastructure. The government must, as the court wanted, make a realistic assessment of the projected requirements of the medicines and auxiliary materials and start sourcing them from within the country or abroad.
The fresh thinking on the patent regime on Covid vaccines does not offer immediate relief but the government must do everything possible to get the technology transferred here and the production increased multi-fold in the shortest possible time. Three vaccine manufacturing units in the public sector — those in Kasauli, Coonoor and Guindy — have stopped working for want of regulatory compliance for more than a decade and the government must ensure that they are back in action at the earliest; the fourth one in Chengalpet requires only a minor effort to start production. The time for the Narendra Modi government to pluck the lowest hanging fruits is long over; it must now face tougher challenges.