Should the COVID-19 Vaccine’s Intellectual Property Be Accessible for Everyone?

Although the COVID 19 vaccine is here isn't necessarily available for everyone, some countries across the globe do not have access to the singular thing that could end the pandemic due in part because of intellectual properties. Right now, there's a battle over whether or not countries like the United States should share the IP of the vaccine. We reached out to Dr. Kishore wassan about this topic, and we asked, is the WTO and the trips council right for lean so heavily on protecting IPS rather than what some may argue is looking out for the global good? On one level, I think scientifically and medically, we all in a humanitarian effort believe try to make the vaccines accessible and cost effective. So that people in the world can definitely get the vaccine so they could be taken care of. I mean, it's that simple. However, the reason why intellectual property is a really tricky situation is because unfortunately, you have rogue rogue organizations, rogue scientists, rogue people out there that if they try to do a knock off on your vaccine and develop something that is substandard and based on, maybe you're, you know, off your intellectual property and then try to push that to the developing world. So a substandard vaccine for the developing world that could actually be dangerous because that vaccine may be more toxic and not as effective because it's done substandard. So intellectual property is partly there because yes, it's there so they can make money and protect their invention. But at the same time, it's also there so that, you know, the product is protected. So that people don't do do rogue products and make a substandard version of it. That's why this isn't actually a very controversial and tricky issue. It's not that black and white. I mean, it's not as simple as that. So you have to kind of keep those two things in mind. And again, it comes down to a balance between the two, ok? You know, it really is something that you have to unfortunately have to think about. Dr. Watson is the co-founder and co-director of the neglected global disease initiative at the University of British Columbia, which strives for global equity and accessibility. He is supporter of life saving drugs that aren't just a COVID 19 vaccine not being made for profit, but he believes ultimately the biggest challenge when it comes to certain parts of the globe is them not being able to actually store the vaccine once it's delivered to them. I have to wear my other hat for this, so I am the co-founder and co-director of the neglected global diseases initiative at the University of British Columbia, and global equity and accessibility is one of our mandates of need. UBC and in fact, we're going to hold a hold a conference at the end of November to talk about global equity. And so on. And within that. Yes your comments around trips and accessibility of the vaccine at or below cost for the developing world is one of the things that Nagai supports and believes in. In fact, we believe that for four drugs, for neglected diseases, it's not just for COVID. We believe that there should be drugs or other what we call neglected diseases for the developing world that should be developed at or below cost. You know, you know, there may be cost recovery because it costs money to make it, but we're not. Certainly we don't believe that they should be making profit in those parts of the world. That is definitely one of the issues around vaccine and vaccine development in the developing and the developing world. But one of the bigger issues before that is accessibility. Being able to get the vaccine, being able to store the vaccine, be able to have proper storage facilities in many parts of the world. They do not have proper refrigeration, so they cannot store the vaccines properly in there. Therefore, how can you get them to be accessible? So these are some of the definite issues that are on the table that the world needs to deal with. And yeah, Nagai UBC is certainly an advocate for that. As long as COVID 19 is still around a debate for the ipa, the vaccine will continue to rage on for the latest on the vaccine and the factors that go with this distribution. Be sure to head the market scale as well as subscribe.