As the US supported the demand for waiver of intellectual property rights protection on Covid-19 vaccines, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday asked the Modi government to invoke the provisions for compulsory licensing.
Ramesh said the Union government must issue a notification under Sections 92 and 100 of the Patents Act to freely license all patents necessary for vaccine and drug production, including for equipment and all raw materials for vaccines, hospital equipment and drugs to treat Covid-19.
“Issue of the amount of royalties can be decided in due course as laid out in the Patents Act, but that should not come in the way of immediate licensing by the government,” the former Union Minister said.
Ramesh also said that the Union government must provide all full support to those companies and institutions which have facilities to scale up vaccine production.
He said the Indian industry has well-respected expertise and capability to rapidly manufacture raw materials, consumables and equipment necessary to produce drugs, vaccines and medical devices if Intellectual Property barriers are removed.
“Hope you will give this your serious consideration, Piyush Goyal. It is a logical consequence of the stance we have taken at the WTO,” Ramesh said.
Earlier, former prime minister Manmohan Singh had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to invoke compulsory licensing provisions to make vaccines available to all.
Last October, India and South Africa had submitted a proposal suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation, application and enforcement of certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of Covid-19.
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