Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment heard from Oxfam Ireland and Médecins Sans Frontières on this matter. The good news is that we wrote to the Tánaiste on an all-party basis and said he needed to come out in full support of a TRIPS waiver for Covid-19 vaccines. However, the disgraceful fact of the matter is that he has done quite the opposite. The EU is now supporting the so-called Quad proposal. I will briefly explain why that is not sufficient to deal with the crisis. Today, just 12% of people in Africa have received two vaccines, as opposed to 81% in Europe. There is still a very real crisis there. The Quad proposal applies primarily to patents and not other IP rights, such as trade secrets, which are also vital for vaccines. It falls far short of the broad package of measures envisaged by the TRIPS waiver. While often presented as a waiver, it does not waive IP rights. Instead, it primarily makes modifications to existing TRIPS compulsory licensing mechanisms. The Quad proposal also introduces various additional requirements for compulsory licences that TRIPS requires. For example, it requires a list of all patents relevant to the vaccine before a compulsory licence is issued. This could prove exceptionally difficult in practice. The proposal only applies to eligible members, which are defined narrowly, limiting who can use it. Put simply, the Quad proposal is not a workable or effective solution.