India hails US support for ‘trade waiver’ on vaccines

Even as foreign aid continued to pour into the country this week (including 1.5 lakh vials of anti-Covid drug Remdesivir supplied by its manufacturer Gilead), India on Thursday welcomed American support for the joint India-South Africa initiative, which began last year at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), for the relaxation in the norms of the agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in order to “ensure quick and affordable access to vaccines and medicines for developing countries”.

New Delhi hoped that the waiver can be approved quickly at the WTO and that this will be “an important step for enabling rapid scaling up of manufacture and timely availability of affordable Covid-19 vaccines and essential medical products”.

In a statement, the MEA said, “In view of the global health crisis and the need to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, India and South Africa proposed in WTO on 2nd Oct, 2020 a relaxation in the norms of the agreement on TRIPS, to ensure quick and affordable access to vaccines and medicines for developing countries. As a result of proactive outreach by India and other like-minded countries, the proposal has received the support of more than 120 countries. During his recent phone call on 26 April 2021 with the US President Biden, Prime Minister informed him about India’s initiative at the WTO which was aimed at the benefit of humanity. We welcome the statement of the US government of 5th May announcing their support for this initiative.”

Meanwhile on Thursday, 450 Oxygen Cylinders, each of capacity 46.6 litres, landed in New Delhi from the UK while one Mobile Oxygen Generating Plant came from Germany.

Essential medicines from Bangladesh also reached.