The Evening Wrap: Experts point to contradiction in India’s push for IPR waiver on Covid-19 vaccines
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Experts point to contradiction in India's push for IPR waiver on Covid-19 vaccines |
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Public health advocates and intellectual property rights experts point to a "contradiction" in India's global push for suspension of intellectual property protection with its stand in the Supreme Court that bringing Covid-19 vaccines under a statutory regime will be "counter-productive" at this stage. India, along with South Africa, had initiated a proposal for the temporary waiver of certain provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to facilitate fair, affordable and universal access to Covid-19 vaccines and medicines, especially for developing countries. The October 2020 communication to the TRIPS Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) referred to "several reports about intellectual property rights hindering or potentially hindering timely provisioning of affordable medical products to patients". The two countries had highlighted that some WTO Members had carried out urgent legal amendments to their national patent laws to expedite the process of issuing compulsory/government use licences. "Internationally, there is an urgent call for global solidarity, and the unhindered global sharing of technology and know-how in order that rapid responses for the handling of COVID-19 can be put in place on a real-time basis," they stressed in October last year. The United States has recently conveyed its support for an intellectual property waiver for Covid-19 vaccines. However, experts point to an affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court on May 9, 2021, which shows the government taking a different stand in favour of protection of intellectual property rights. "Any exercise of statutory powers either under the Patents Act, 1970 read with TRIPS Agreement and Doha Declaration or in any other way can only prove to be counter-productive at this stage," the Centre has said in the affidavit. The government assures that it is "very actively engaging itself with global organisations at a diplomatic level to find out a solution in the best possible interest of India". Overseas Citizens of India, stung by Home Ministry notification, plan to take battle to Supreme CourtThe Home Ministry's March 4 order that required professional Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) such as journalists, engineers and researchers to notify the Ministry about their activities in India has left them in the lurch. A portal that was to come up for the purpose is not operational yet. A Ministry official said it was delayed as several officials in the Ministry's foreigners division tested positive for Covid-19 in the past month. A director rank official, A. Radharani, succumbed to the virus last week. The official said the OCIs could intimate the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) through e-mail till the portal is activated. Rajanna Sreedhara, president of Association of Resident OCI and Families (AROCIF), said that they were planning to challenge the Ministry's notification in the Supreme Court as they believed it was discriminatory. On March 4, the Ministry issued a gazette notification that OCI cardholders could claim "only NRI (Non-Resident Indian) quota seats" in educational institutions. It specified that OCIs could only pursue the following professions — doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists, advocates, architects and chartered accountants, the rest would require "special permission". OCIs are of Indian origin but hold foreign passports. India does not allow dual citizenship but provides certain benefits under Section 7B(I) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to the OCIs. So far, 37.72 lakh OCI Cards are said to have been issued. The notification said that OCIs shall be required to obtain a "special permission or a special permit" from the competent authority or the FRRO or the Indian mission "to undertake research, missionary or Tabligh or mountaineering or journalistic activities or internship in any foreign diplomatic missions". "The notification does not mention IT professionals, a large number of OCIs are engineers; so will they have to apply for employment visa? It says permission required to conduct research...this will place undue burden on scientific, pharmaceutical, medical, biotechnology and other research fields," Sreedhara said. DCGI approves Phase III Covaxin trialsThe Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has accepted the recommendation of the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) and accorded permission to Bharat Biotech to conduct the Phase II/III clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin in the age group of two to 18 years to its manufacturer Bharat Biotech Ltd. A release issued by the Health Ministry on Thursday said that Bharat Biotech had proposed to carry out a Phase-II/III clinical trial of Covaxin in the age group of 2 to 18 years. The trial will be conducted in 525 healthy volunteers. "In the trial, the vaccine will be given by intramuscular route in two doses at day 0 and day 28," noted the release. Gap between Covishield doses extended from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeksThe government has accepted the Covid-19 Working Group's recommendation to extend the gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks, the Union Health Ministry said, while announcing the extension on Thursday. However, no change has been suggested for the dosage interval for Covaxin, it said. "Based on the available real-life evidences, particularly from the UK, the COVID-19 Working Group agreed for increasing the dosing interval to 12-16 weeks between two doses of Covishield vaccine. No change in interval of Covaxin vaccine doses was recommended," the Ministry said. Doctors in rural Unnao resign en masse, alleging harassment by administration over Covid-19 workMore than a dozen doctors posted in rural hospitals in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh collectively resigned, alleging harassment and misbehaviour by administrative officials. Sixteen doctors, posted at community health centres and primary health centres submitted their resignation letters to the chief medical officer (CMO) of the district on Wednesday. Speaking to the media, one of them said that while their teams would work on the field from noon to 4-5 p.m., isolating Covid-19 positive cases in their home, distributing medicine and carrying out sampling, the local SDM would summon them after that seeking a report of their work. The doctors would have to drive back several km to the tehsil from their place of work just to "prove that they are working," said the doctor. "Despite continuously working, it has been made to appear like we are not working and that due to this, the Covid-19 situation is going out of control," he said. The doctors also alleged that they were not provided sufficient drug supply from the government and often faced verbal harassment at the hands of the CMO and the CMS. If the field teams were unable to trace down patients because of submission of wrong phone numbers and addresses, they should not be held responsible for it, said the doctors. India resists 'community transmission' tag despite soaring casesDespite adding the highest number of cases in the world every day, India continues to label itself as a country with no community transmission (CT), opting instead for the lower, less serious classification called 'cluster of cases', according to the latest weekly report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on May 11. Countries such as the United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, France — and a perusal of the list of over 190 countries suggest the majority — have all labelled themselves as being in 'community transmission'. Among the 10 countries with the most number of confirmed cases, only Italy and Russia do not label themselves as being in 'community transmission'. Both countries have been on a declining trajectory for at least a month and together contribute less than 20,000 cases a day — about 5% of India's daily numbers. India, since the beginning of the pandemic has never marked itself as being in community transition. Broadly, CT is when new cases in the last 14 days can't be traced to those who have an international travel history, when cases can't be linked to specific cluster. Priyanka Gandhi demands judicial probe into bodies in GangaCongress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said the situation in Uttar Pradesh is "inhuman and criminal" and demanded a judicial probe headed by a High Court judge into the several instances of bodies found floating in the Ganga in many parts of the State. "What is happening in U.P. is inhuman and criminal. The government is busy image-building while people are suffering unimaginably. There must be an immediate judicial enquiry headed by a High Court judge into these events," tweeted Vadra, who is the Congress general secretary in-charge of U.P. The Unnao district authorities meanwhile ordered an inquiry over fresh reports of bodies being found buried on the banks of the Ganga in the Bighapur Patan tehsil area. There were also reports of bodies floating in the river in Ballia and other places of U.P. and Bihar. "Bodies are floating in the Ganga in Ballia and Ghazipur. Reports are coming in of mass burials on the banks of the river in Unnao. Official numbers from cities like Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Jhansi and Kanpur appear to be grossly under-reported," the Congress leader said in another tweet. Put FCRA on hold to ease relief flow, Nasscom plea to PMIndia's IT industry body Nasscom has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant emergency use authorisation for all WHO-approved vaccines in view of domestic vaccine shortages, and temporarily relax stringent Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) norms to ease the flow of overseas COVID-19 relief into the country. Nasscom's missive to the PM listed three "critical asks" to enable industry to act faster to help the country navigate the second wave. "Many countries and global companies are providing aid to India and are helping the healthcare infrastructure deal with the surge. However, the amended provisions of the FCRA Act 2020 are proving to be a deterrent," the letter to the PM said. On May 3, the government permitted imports without GST levies for pandemic relief material donated from abroad for free distribution in the country, delegating States to certify the entities that will receive such imports. However, no exemption has been granted from the FCRA norms that require domestic entities receiving foreign aid to get an approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs. "Given the humanitarian crisis, we would request the government to grant a temporary waiver to the FCRA Act and the 2020 amendments. This will enable NGOs to transfer funds between FCRA-approved NGOs and non-FCRA approved NGOs," it said. The amendments flagged by Nasscom prohibit entities receiving foreign contributions from transferring those to any other person, so even entities registered under the FCRA for providing healthcare support, are unable to pass on the relief material to patients or smaller NGOs. PM Modi is missing along with vaccines and oxygen, tweets Rahul GandhiPrime Minister Narendra Modi is also missing along with vaccine, oxygen and medicines, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday. In a tweet, Gandhi said, "Prime Minister is also missing along with vaccine, oxygen and medicines. Among the things that remains include the Central Vista, goods and services tax (GST) on medicines, and photographs of the Prime Minister here and there," the Congress leader tweeted. Several Congress leaders also countered the government on vaccine shortage after Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had blamed Congress leaders for raising doubts about Bharat Biotech's Covaxin being given approval without the phase three clinical trial data. "Where is the Vaccine ? NDA/BJP Ministers are desperately trying to deflect attention from their Criminal mishandling of Pandemic by Goebbelinaly (sic) blaming opposition for fuelling vaccine hesitancy. FOCUS ON DOING SOME WORK FOR A CHANGE," Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari tweeted by tagging a news report about 100 vaccination centres in Delhi closing down owing to a vaccine shortage. His colleague, Shashi Tharoor, who was specifically named by Puri in a tweet, asked if the vaccine shortage in the country was because of his tweet. "Let me keep it simple: 1. Is the vaccine shortage because of Congress' tweets? 2. Did GOI fail to order enough vaccines because of my tweets? 3. Is differential pricing in May the result of my pointing out on Jan 3 that that Phase 3 trials of Covaxin were not complete @HardeepSPuri," asked Tharoor. Covid Watch: Numbers and DevelopmentsThe number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 2,37,81,509 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the official death toll at 2,59,315. The Sputnik V anti-Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Russia's GamaleyaNational Center, will be available in India from early next week, said NITI Aayog member V.K. Paul on Thursday at a press conference. In Brief:The Civil Services (Preliminary) examination, which was scheduled to be held on June 27, has been postponed to October 10. The decision comes after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) last month postponed the interviews to be held as a part of the 2020 examination. It "postponed till further orders" the interviews of the Civil Services examination for 2020 that were scheduled from April 26 to June 18. It had said the new dates would be announced in due course. Fifteen more Covid-19 patients died at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in the early hours of Thursday, the state government told the Bombay High Court, two days after 26 coronavirus patients had succumbed at the same facility, PTI reported. The Goa bench of the HC said state authorities had conveyed that some of the casualties may have taken place due to "logistical issues" related to connecting oxygen cylinders to the manifold (group of large gas cylinders) that resulted in interruption and drop in pressure in supply lines of oxygen to patients. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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