Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 May 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Covid-19 Vaccines: Discussion

Mr. Matt Moran:

It was said that a voluntary approach would probably be more productive in the long run, and that is what is happening at the moment. We have said there are 350 agreements, which is a significant number, and they are supporting manufacturing where it can.

The complexity of making mRNA vaccines has been underestimated a bit. For members' information, it actually takes 60 days to make one batch of an mRNA vaccine. In fact, that technology is not off the shelf. The view of the industry still is that they have scoured the world looking for what they believe are suitable partners to enter into agreements with. That probably is the more productive way to go. In the long run, it will enhance the supply of vaccines.