U.S. Senators urge Pfizer, manufacturers to share technology with India

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and four other senators on Thursday called upon the American vaccine manufacturing companies to “expand access” to their jabs in India expressing concern that inequitable vaccine distribution could lead to a global GDP loss of 1.2 trillion dollars.

Warren in a letter to Albert Bourla, the Chairman of Pfizer said “though Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and other companies have developed safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, the uncontrolled spread of coronavirus poses significant risks to global vaccination efforts.

“As the virus proliferates, it evolves increasing the risk of a variant developing that renders vaccinations ineffective.

The senior Democratic Party senator stated that “a recent study estimates that unequal global vaccine distribution could result in a gross domestic product loss of $1.2 trillion annually for the global economy.

Werren pointed out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set up multiple mechanisms through which technology transfer could occur.

She said it includes ‘COVID-19 Technology Access Pool’ (C-TAP) which calls on the global community to voluntarily share knowledge, intellectual property and data necessary for COVID-19.

Also, its mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, which seeks to expand the capacity of low- and middle-income countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines and scale-up manufacturing by facilitating the transfer of technology and intellectual property to those countries.

However, similar appeals had been made by four other senators, Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jeffrey Merkley (D-Ore.), and Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.) to the management of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

In their letters to the American vaccine manufacturers, the five senators said that “voluntary technology transfer” between India and the U.S. to scale up production in the COVID-hit South Asian nation could take place through several mechanisms.

The American senators had further demanded that these private companies also back India and South Africa’s demand for a “temporary waiver” of Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rules (TRIPS).

Warren stated that “experts have called for the U.S. to support the temporary waiver of some Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) rules proposed by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

“ This would temporarily lift certain intellectual property barriers and allow countries to locally manufacture COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.’’

Inspite of New Delhi’s call for a TRIPS waiver on the COVID vaccine being backed by many developing countries as well as at least 60 American lawmakers, the Joe Biden administration has so far remained non-committal regarding the demand.

Warren further asked Pfizer and other vaccine companies when are they planning to apply for an emergency use license in India, pursuant to New Delhi’s invitations to these companies to apply for authorisation in the South Asian nation.

“India has asked Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson to seek licenses to distribute their vaccines in the country as a means of expanding supply. Does Pfizer plan to apply for an emergency use license for its vaccines in India? If so, when?” she asked.

The letter by the U.S. senators had been written against the backdrop of a devastating second wave in India, with the South Asian country recording over 300,000 new infections daily for a week now.

India’s overall caseload of 18.3 million infections is the second worst globally, with only the U.S. having recorded more COVID cases.

India is set to roll out its vaccination programme for 18 to 45-year-olds, who constitute the bulk of its 1.3 billion-strong population, from May 1.

However, several state governments had been complaining to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about crippling vaccine shortages as the two domestic vaccine companies struggle to fulfill jab orders.