Mr. Oliver O'Connor:

I thank the Chairman and Deputy. Let me respond to a couple of points. On the question of the African production of vaccines, it is best to refer members to something I read recently, the African Union's plan entitled "Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing". It sets a target for Africa to be able to manufacture 60% of its needed vaccines by 2040. Its target is to be able to manufacture 10% of its needed vaccines on the African Continent by the end of 2025.

It does not include a requirement to achieve this to have a TRIPS waiver. It is a very sophisticated document and it alerts to the importance of regulatory and standards controls and, indeed, the building of the skill sets needed within Africa. It is an important report that would be worth looking at in this context.

On the overall issue of the economics of this, it is an unavoidable issue. We are asking for private as well as public capital to be raised and it is up to the public sector rule-makers - the legislators - to say what are the rules. We want to have a rules-based international system both for the production and the development of vaccines and medicines. To go back, the initial TRIPS was set in the Doha round of trade talks and it allowed for compulsory licensing and so on. Companies invested in their capacities and in their research and development on the basis of the rules that were in place. If we now say those rules are not applied because we are going to have a waiver for vaccines, that changes the rule set. For example, the Chinese want to manufacture mRNA vaccines and they are unhappy with the Quad proposal because they would not be currently allowed, and so on.

The fundamental point about investment is that the rules are set in advance. Companies are raising capital, and the public sector is raising capital too, on the basis of the rules as set in advance. If we change them, and it is open to the public sector to do that, we have to calculate the effects of that for future investment. No company is forced to invest in any circumstances and no company can magic up the capital to invest both in its production capacity and in vaccines and medicines research and development. They can only do so within the context of set international order and set rules. It is a very important thing to ask whether we are changing those rules fundamentally and what effect that might have. As I said, the European Patent Office said there will be a 37% reduction in vaccines.