Australia could become voice for global vaccine equality

An expert from The Australian National University (ANU) is urging Australia to support international calls at the World Trade Organization for pharmaceutical giants to not only waive intellectual property protections for the COVID-19 vaccine but teach countries how to replicate the vaccine in the lab. The call comes as the Delta variant "spreads like wildfire" across the world. Professor Susan Sell, from the School of Regulation and Global Governance, said the emergence of the Delta strain highlights the importance for all nations, particularly low and middle-income countries, to be able to produce vaccines locally instead of importing them. "Australia must follow in the footsteps of the US and others by throwing its support behind a waiver on COVID vaccine patents at the World Trade Organization. We know countries like India, South Africa, South Korea and Brazil have the capacity to produce COVID vaccines locally if the major firms allow it," she said. "Australia has an opportunity to negotiate agreements for a waiver for patent rights, but it's not enough. It should be made mandatory for firms to not only share methods to produce the vaccine, but also send someone into the field to teach hands-on development.