Problems with Covax and Globalism of Vaccines

Recently, Indian company SII CEO Adar poonawaala said that SII is under severe pressure to meet production requirements and facing problems with British firm Astrazeneca due to delays in international obligations. Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine is originally created by British Pharma company Astrazeneca and SII is in joint venture with British company. While British company is behind the development & IP creation of vaccine, SII is the manufacturer of vaccine that is producing vaccines in India for domestic use in India as well as for parent British company for foreign exports. SII is also part of Covax project that is meant to supply vaccines to poor countries across the world. 

SII was shipping millions of doses of Covid vaccines worldwide until recently. But a new Covid wave has emerged in India due to which Govt has put some restrictions on vaccine exports. The constraints and problems regarding Covax program and globalism of vaccines is clear. Few companies have the control to manufacture and deliver vaccines and this is creating artificial scarcity of vaccines in the world. Big Pharma companies in the west developed the vaccines and wanted to tap into manufacturing capacity of developing countries like India. After all, developing and testing of vaccines is not enough. To really earn profits from vaccines, you have to commercially launch the vaccine and manufacture millions of doses. Just like other things, Globalism makes it possible to manufacture vaccines cheaply in some developing countries so manufacturing is outsourced to countries like India. Basically, western Pharma companies go into joint ventures with Indian companies to set up this manufacturing hubs. Also recall that Pfizer, wants to launch its vaccines in India and create its own global manufacturing hub in India by tapping into potential of India's Pharma sector. But Pfizer wants assurance from Indian Govt that it won't be forced by the Govt on pricing and exports. 

SII is facing pressure from parent Astrazeneca company to deliver on its international commitments while Indian Govt want SII to serve domestic Indian markets due to rise of new Covid wave. To solve this vaccine shortage problem, SII has asked around $400 Million from Indian Government to build & expand its manufacturing capacity so as to meet demand of India as well as foreign countries. I think Pfizer knew about such problems regarding India as are now being faced by SII, so it avoided Indian markets. Pfizer as of now is happy with its vaccine profits in North America and Europe so doesn't want to bother with new arrangements in countries like India.

The problem with vaccine trade among countries is similar to what happened with China. Recall how China restricted 3M & other companies in foreign exports when China was dealing with Covid in early days. At that time, our experts complained that its not a good idea to depend upon China for production of critical medical supplies. America ordered 3M & other companies to ramp up production of Masks PPEs etc in America, meant only for domestic use. But now we have created similar problems with vaccine manufacturing by giving production responsibility to handful of companies.

Solving the problems with scarcity of vaccines is simple. Rather than depending on few developers and manufacturers of vaccines, make these vaccines as open source for the duration of pandemic. This can be done at WTO by TRIPS waiver on vaccine patents. Any country having Pharmaceutical industry with manufacturing capability to produce these vaccines will be able to mass produce these vaccines. We don't really need Covax facility at all. After all, many African countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria etc have Pharmaceutical sector with companies that can produce these Covid vaccines. Governments of the countries can give suitable financial support to the companies to upgrade their manufacturing capacity to mass produce vaccines for full national vaccination programs. Even if we want to have free trade of vaccines, make these vaccines as open source. There are tons of pharmaceutical companies in India who can produce these vaccines. The production capacity of Indian Pharma sector, if used to its full potential, is such that it can satisfy India as well as foreign markets.