Covid-19 Vaccines - Global Technology transfers and Geopolitics
Its true that TRIPS waiver is only a regulatory hurdle, which alone won't solve the problems. If we have TRIPS waiver without full cooperation in technology transfers, i am sure that Indian companies will still eventually find ways to replicate the technology of Moderna & Pfizer in due course. But this may take time which we don't have. Hence we need assistance of original developers of vaccines to help setup vaccine factories in India & other nations as soon as possible. The transfer of technology should be done in a same way like when Big Pharma companies go into Joint venture with local companies for manufacturing of vaccines. Simple examples of this is technology transfer from British company Astrazeneca to Indian company SII. So we need technology transfer in similar cooperation but without the motives of commercial profitability & hefty royalties.
Another thing Big Pharma companies can easily do is price their vaccines lower for developing and poor countries. After all, with the marketing of vaccines in North America & Europe, companies have already made windfall profits on their vaccines in last 6 months or so. It would make more sense if Big Pharma companies make joint venture partnerships or do voluntary tech transfers to local Pharma companies of developing nations. This tech transfer should be done on basis of minimal royalties so that vaccines will be available in developing nations at lower costs. For example if vaccines are priced at $19 in America, it should be priced at $5 in India which has much lower per capita income compared to America. Instead what we are seeing is the opposite in many countries. For example the prices of Astrazeneca vaccine in US & EU is lower than those of India.
Another issue raised by critics of TRIPS waiver is that raw materials & machinery needed for manufacturing of vaccines is limited. This is also a senseless argument because we can easily build more machines & more factories for manufacturing raw materials. When we talk about expanding manufacturing capacity of vaccines, we should be obviously thinking about expanding the capacity of full chain of ingredients needed to manufacture vaccines that includes raw materials & machines. But all this level of cooperation between corporations, governments and organizations (like WHO, UN etc) will be really effective if we have a global plan for pandemic response.
A major point of contention is issue of innovation. The critics of TRIPS waiver argues that patents drive innovation of technology. I won't debate this point here but i would point to alternative ideas proposed by Dean Baker in public funding of research which can drive innovation as well as open source access to technology. But coming to the immediate point of vaccines, the TRIPS waiver is only a temporary suspension of IPs only for the duration of pandemic. Its also interesting to see how experts make business as usual arguments about need of patents, ignoring that we have a PANDEMIC to deal with which has killed millions of people and cost Trillions of $$$ of losses to nations and globally. Germany's position against TRIPS waiver reminds me of the Germany's position on 'sanctity of debt'. Recall the Eurozone debt crisis of some years ago when southern European states were crippled with debt and were forced to implement harsh austerity measures by the TROIKA. Economists at the time called for a Debt moratorium and major haircut on Greece national debt as it was unsustainable. But Germany pushed forward with its senseless Austerity doctrine which destroyed the Greece economy. It was like squeezing the blood out of rock. The ideology behind making indebted Greece pay for its sins was that Bondholders are sacrosanct and validity of debt shall not be questioned even in the face of reality when debts simply cannot be paid off. Isn't Germany's position on sanctity of IP rules a similar denial in face of reality?
Even from a purely business sense, shouldn't the basic goal of "free markets" be their self preservation? When pandemic drives countries into chaos, public health emergency, lockdowns and tremendous economic losses and uncertainty, this will destroy the "free markets" or at least shake its foundations. Free markets cannot function during an APOCALYPSE. Even if we keep aside the humanitarian costs of pandemic, the economic costs of pandemic should be more than sufficient to make governments take necessary course of action to end the pandemic and bring economies back to normal. If some nonsense IP rules are standing in way of our pandemic response, they can be tossed aside temporarily to deal with the pandemic.
US left behind in Vaccine Diplomacy - Void filled by China & Russia - If WHO is compromised, why US doesn't create an alternative platform for global pandemic response? - US negating on its global responsibility in pandemic response
Without a global action plan on vaccines, there is no coherent vaccine policy and direction . While North America, Europe & their allies have access to vaccines of western companies, the rest of the world has no clear path for national vaccination. Russia & China are filling this void by exporting their vaccines. Its obvious that this vaccine aid comes with strings attached but in desperate need of vaccines, developing nations don't have much alternative. Western vaccines are too expensive & out of reach for many countries. America also accuse WHO of being subservient to China and former CDC chief who lead the agency until last year now claim that Covid-19 virus escaped from Chinese research labs. America also doesn't accept the WHO report on origins of virus. Given all the geopolitical tensions and lack of trust between US & China, any idea of cooperation on pandemic response between two countries seems far fetched. But if this is the case, America must need to do two things. Either Restructure the WHO and appoint new chief and other officials to restore credibility & independence of WHO. If that is not possible, US should create an alternative platform to lead global pandemic response. While we really need a global pandemic response & coordination between all countries but if that's too far fetched, why doesn't US lead with its own international effort? US has the best vaccines & technology, great scientists & researchers, unmatched financial strength as well as global outreach to take the leadership role.
Its interesting to note that while US criticize China for all the bad deeds, US doesn't really take the initiative to provide an alternative. If Russia & China are enslaving countries by their vaccine diplomacy, why doesn't US give developing countries a better deal by presenting them with cheaper & more effective vaccines? Its well known that Chinese vaccines are not very effective (Chinese scientists themselves admit this) & China is currently researching on their mRNA vaccine technology. But US already has a well developed mRNA technology & effective vaccines which it can give to many countries. The efficacy of Chinese vaccines was only 50% in Brazil trials and as low as only 3% after first dose of vaccine in Chile trials (read 1, 2 & 3). The countries which are buying Chinese vaccines in desperation would like to buy American vaccines if they are available at affordable prices (affordability in context of per capita income of developing nations). Countries like Chile and Brazil don't look too happy with Chinese & Russian vaccines.
American experts believe that great superpower rivalry will be the challenge for 21st century. The unipolar world has come to an end and US has to compete with China & Russia globally to protect its sphere of influence. American experts also see China's belt & roads plan as China's expansionism and debt trap of enslaving poor countries. If all this is true then it places greater responsibility on US to create alliances and present an alternative global platform for economic development. China claims that its helping in economic development & building infrastructure of poor countries. If all this is a deception to mask China's imperial ambitions, then why America doesn't offer an alternative to China's imperial policy? America should have its own belt & roads type of initiative to help developing countries in economic development & building infrastructure. But there has been no such initiative. Looks like American foreign policy is all about complaints but no resolve.
Isn't pandemic a great opportunity for America to create new alliances? The American foreign policy has been notorious for its disasters. Wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, global war on terror etc destroyed much of the middle East & parts of Africa. In last decades, America earned reputation of being a global wrecker. But now America has great opportunity to repair its image by helping the world in defeating this pandemic. So far America hasn't live up to the expectation. Even from a self centered view of American foreign policy, pandemic presents a great opportunity for forming new partnerships & alliances with countries so as to block imperial ambitions of China. If poor countries are really under the thumb of China's imperial policy, they would be happy to crawl out and join US if US gives them a better deal.
TRIPS waiver may or may not happen but America can take the initiative anytime in global pandemic response. A simple way to start is creating a full time office for global pandemic response and appointment of a special envoy. The office will comprise of technical experts, scientists, economists & diplomats. The office should be tasked to make bilateral agreements with countries like India & other developing nations which have Pharma sector with capability to produce Covid vaccines & antiviral drugs. These bilateral agreements will be a facilitation between western companies and companies & governments of developing nations on favorable terms for developing countries. The terms of agreement can be open source technology transfer and if that's too generous to ask, the agreements should be based on transfer of technology based on minimal royalties to original developers of vaccines. The ultimate goal of such agreements should be affordable vaccines for developing nations in context of their per capita income. For example if Pfizer vaccine is sold in North America & EU at $19-$23, then same vaccine when locally manufactured in India should be priced at $5-$7. Dean Baker goes further and proposes bolder ideas of forcing western Pharma companies to go into partnerships with companies of developing nations to facilitate technology transfers & achieve mass production of vaccines globally.
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