Fair distribution of vaccines is vital

Views from around the world. These opinions are not necessarily shared by Stuff newspapers.

In the battle to end the pandemic, equitable global access to technologies and treatments has been a concern. To this end the World Health Organisation set up the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool and the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator, as well as the more widely publicised funding pool for vaccine access, Covax.

But with major pharmaceutical companies rolling out vaccines and millions of doses being bought by the US, Britain, the EU and Australia, developing countries argue such attempts to give them purchasing power in the market will only go so far. In October, India and South Africa asked the World Trade Organisation to temporarily waive intellectual property (IP) protections so vaccines and other equipment for fighting Covid-19 could be made

more cheaply at greater scale. Australia joined Britain, the US and EU in opposing the move, arguing that existing rules on licensing would be sufficient to meet demand.

Developing nations say existingWTOflexibility rules which allow them to compulsorily license treatments and equipment in an emergency must be decided case by case. TheWTOwaiver as requested would be limited to Covid-19 treatments, and only last until enough people had been vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

The Age believes theWTOflexibility arrangements should be given an opportunity to work as they are intended. But, if the rules stand in the way of wide dissemination of these vaccines, the temporarywaiver of IP rights might need further consideration.