Australia Must Support a Temporary Waiver of Intellectual Property Protections in Response to a Future Pandemic

Abstract

In times of pandemics, the Australian government must intervene through policy and legislative measures to protect the public interest. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian government failed to take a clear position on intellectual property (IP) and access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Instead of fully supporting the TRIPS Waiver proposal aimed at addressing vaccine inequity, Australia remained non-committal in times of serious public health crisis. In response to a future pandemic, the Australian government must take a clear and strong position on IP in favour of equitable and universal access to vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

Recommendations
1. To safeguard the public interest, Australia needs to appreciate the importance of temporarily waiving IP protections to scale up production and supply of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics in response to a pandemic.
2. In the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (Pandemic Accord), Australia needs to fully support temporary waivers of IP protections.

Keywords: Australia, COVID-19, Intellectual Property, Patents, TRIPS, Vaccines