Global vaccine equity key to ending COVID-19 pandemic

As the COVID-19 crisis continues around the world, public health and infectious disease experts at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry are pushing for global vaccine equity to end the pandemic. In a new editorial published in the International Journal of Public Health , co-authors Shehzad Ali, Michael Clarke, Dr. Michael Silverman and Dr. Saverio Stranges called on the Canadian government to adopt legislation and policies that will improve global vaccine equity to mitigate the potential risks of future variants developing. Formal mechanisms exist for suspending patent protection for medicines in the event of a national or global emergency, including issuing an intellectual property waiver or compulsory licences for generic drug production, the experts explained in their piece, " Global Vaccine Equity to End the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Canadian Perspective and Call to Action " This would allow for the production of patented vaccines by generic pharmaceutical companies at a lower cost. "The current COVID-19 pandemic and the obviously skewed and unjust global distribution of vaccines represent solid grounds for employing a compulsory licence or waiver for the generic manufacture of vaccines," said Stranges, chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics. "The legal and legislative processes are in place for Canada to do the right thing. Donations of vaccines from high-income countries may alleviate inequity in the short term.