Enough vaccine, may not need WTO waiver proposal, says Adham

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia may not need to adopt the proposal at the World Trade Organization to suspend intellectual property rights temporarily as more Covid-19 vaccine suppliers and supplies are expected to be added to expedite the vaccination programme, says health minister Dr Adham Baba.

Adham said this when asked whether Malaysia should adopt the WTO waiver proposal to expedite the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme and, at the same time, address programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s concern over the lack of vaccine supplies for Phase 3, which is supposed to begin in May.He also said that 3.5 million doses are coming in from three suppliers this month – AstraZeneca , Pfizer-BioNTech , and Sinovac .

A CL refers to the use of a patented product without the authorisation of the right holder. WTO members could issue a CL when negotiations for a reasonable price or a voluntary license to import or manufacture a patented product from the patent holder fail. The WTO proposal, which was initially jointly submitted by India and South Africa on Oct 2 last year, calls for certain provisions of the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement that cover patents, trade secrets, copyright and industrial designs to be suspended temporarily.

“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” she said.

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