Ending a decade with an year like 2020!
2020
began like any other year except that it was end of a decade. We all entered
into it with the wishes of a happy, healthy and prosperous new year as we
wished everyone this year.
Fresh with New Year resolutions,
Jan and Feb are the motivational months to act on the promises made on New Year's
Eve. Roads full of joggers is a pretty common site and so were Jan-Feb 2020.
Lives were all business as usual until we entered into March 2020 when we were
in for the biggest shocks of our lifetime. A pandemic that brought a bigger
economic upheaval than the global economic crisis of 2008, that wreaked havoc
in the lives of rich and poor alike, yet led bare the global inequalities. It
impacted people from every walk of life, of every age, every sector of economy,
the lives and livelihoods alike. Yet we are beginning the New Year with the
developed world holding assured access to Covid vaccines and developing
countries left to fend off for themselves in a market where most of the supply
is pre-purchased by rich economies. Fortunately, with the approval of two
vaccines by the pharmacy of the world in first week of 2021, there's a ray of
hope in the developing world.
Personally, 2020 has been a saviour
for me, more than once. I was so thankful to God that I left China in first
week of December 2019 after a week-long official visit to Beijing on a workshop
related to Intellectual Property Rights. It happened again in early Feb 2020
that we visited Venice to witness the beauty that is Venice carnival, one of
the most famous carnivals in the world, for a weekend and after getting back to
Geneva, learnt that Covid had broken out in Italy by middle of February. Being
in the right place at right time, is something that happens just with luck!
With the month of March it felt
like sun has set over the planet and world would be staring at a dark winter.
It all came so sudden. Locked down at your homes and you don't know due to what
fault of yours. Suddenly, the shelves at grocery stores were empty, pharmacies
ran out of masks and sanitizers, social media was stuffed with infodemic,
conspiracy theories, diet recommendations to boost your immune system and what
not. Screen time went anywhere up to 10-15 hours a day and it felt as if one is
getting trapped in a sea of anxiety- the mental toll of coronavirus. But some
were even more unfortunate. Those who did not have roofs to isolate, food to
eat, bare minimum to make ends meet, set foot for a long march from cities to
villages.
Covid changed the perspective
from which we looked at our surroundings and at ourselves. Humanity came out
pouring in the form of selfless service by healthcare professionals, by the
police and administrative agencies, by the Gurudwaras that served free food, by
humans towards their fellow beings. Some connected with their families like
never before. But for diplomats, who usually stay long distances apart from
their families, Covid breakout was a challenging time. Indian diplomats throughout
the world mounted an unprecedented task of repatriating the lakhs of stranded
Indians in different corners of world. In such situations, one realises what
service to the nation entails.
For myself, all alone in a
foreign land more than 7000km away from India, I suddenly woke up to the utter
shock that you could no longer travel back home (for your home is always where
heart is-for me it can't be anywhere other than India), no longer go to WTO, no
longer go to office, to your colleague's or friend's place and all you could do
is just sit at your house and utilize the time to bring out the best in you. I learned painting,
cooking, bonding with family over virtual morning yoga session and virtual
prayer meet in the evening. It was the best way to kill the loneliness!
Then April came as a turning
point in my professional life. While the multilateral activity was all shut due
to the local restrictions banning public gathering of more than 5 people, we
began some thinking as to how could India help in management of Covid crisis and
bringing back the 'normalcy' through our efforts at WTO. Those initial months
were full of hoarding of masks, PPEs, sanitizers, medical gloves, and practically
every Covid essential. There were many emerging situations in different parts of
the world where it appeared that Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) were posing
a barrier to rapid scaling up of manufacturing of Covid essentials. Like 3M
masks which were protected by design patents, ventilators whose components were
protected by multiple IPRs, were already disrupting the steady flow of Covid
products throughout the globe. For example-during the COVID-19 outbreak, an
Italian hospital ran out of ventilator valves (which cost $11,000 each) and
their regular supplier could not produce them on time. After scanning an
existing valve, replacement valves were 3D printed costing about $1 each which
has saved 10 lives to date. However a law firm cites this exact example to warn
that 3D printing (eg of ventilator valves) may violate patents or industrial
designs on the valves or other medical equipment and there can also be
copyright issues with the digital model/computer aided design (CAD) file.
We realised that the multilateral
framework that provides for IPR protection as an incentive for innovation that
worked fine in normal times, needs to be flexible to respond to a pandemic of
such an overwhelming nature like Covid19. We foresaw the situation when safe
and effective proven vaccines would emerge, there was going to be a tremendous
shortfall unless the few suppliers, majorly the big pharma companies, did not engage in unconditional,
transparent licensing to all the valid manufacturers who had the capacity for
vaccine production or widely share the technology behind vaccine production
without enforcing IPRs. And as few months passed, we realized our worst fears
coming true.
Amid this backdrop, India and
South Africa introduced a proposal in WTO for a temporary waiver from certain
sections of WTO TRIPS Agreement for effective treatment, prevention and
containment of Covid-19 in October 2020. The objective of the waiver is to
prevent IPR barriers to rapid scaling up of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics
and other Covid19 related medical products so that timely delivery of such
products can be ensured to 7.8 billion global population. Today the Proposal is co-sponsorder by 10 WTO Members. It has
generated widespread support from most of the WTO Members, numerous civil
society organisations, political leaders, scientific community, global leaders
including DG, WHO. Pandemic being an extraordinary crisis demands out of box
solutions and in such crisis situations, multilateral institutions can remain
relevant only by adjusting to the global needs.
Not only will this initiative
save millions of lives, by ensuring access to vaccines for all, it will
accelerate our path to 'normalcy' and hence, global economic recovery. It will
help to prevent the loss of years of progress on SDGs. With the emergence of
new Covid strains or variants, the world has once again witnessed that no one is safe
until everyone is safe. Sectors like tourism, travel and hospitality, business,
aviation etc. will continue to suffer throughout the world unless there's a
confidence in consumers that vaccines are not only there to protect them but
also will be made accessible to them in an affordable and timely manner.
Therefore, the waiver is a win-win situation for all, developed and developing
world alike. While discovery of vaccines was a test of science, delivering them
equitably in a timely and affordable manner is a test of humanity. Will WTO
deliver on this test, remains to be seen.
A Happy New Year to all and
hope this would be a healthy year where everyone will have access to Covid
vaccines and world would be able to enter 'post Covid' phase in 2021.
An opinion on the issue by Indian
Ambassador to WTO can be accessed at-
https://opinion.inquirer.net/
