Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland fully supports international efforts to ensure an effective global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the need for fair access to knowledge, property rights, and technology.

My Department, through the Irish Aid programme, has responded with a global public health investment of €200 million over the past two years, with further Irish Aid investment in global public health to come this year.   An insight from Irish Aid’s long-standing contribution to the flights against HIV and Ebola is that effective public health systems are essential to containing infectious diseases.  Our response  includes support to the WHO, to GAVI The Vaccines Alliance, and to the Global Fund for TB, HIV / AIDS and Malaria, as well as to health system strengthening in partner countries. 

€8.5million in Irish Aid financing went to the COVAX facility last year and I have this week authorised a further €5 million to COVAX.  This support complements the international vaccine sharing led by the Department of Health, on foot of a Government decision to donate up to 5 million doses to developing countries from Ireland’s surplus supply of COVID vaccines. In recent days, COVAX has reported the successful distribution of over 1 billion vaccines to 144 participating countries.

There are grounds for optimism that the WHO target of 70% of the world’s population receiving their primary vaccination by July this year can be achieved.  Assuming global vaccine production continues at its current rate, it is estimated that total production of vaccines since their introduction a year ago will reach 19 billion by July, an increase of around 8 billion on total global production to the end of last year.  The WHO estimates that a total of 12 billion doses would be required to achieve its 70% target, which suggests that distribution, rather than production, is the current challenge.

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), of which Ireland is a member. Any proposal for a waiver of the current intellectual property protections is subject to negotiation at the WTO. Furthermore, International Trade is an EU competence, meaning the EU represents the coordinated position of the 27 Member States, including in discussions on TRIPS at the WTO. The Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment leads on our engagement with the WTO. Ireland will continue to participate constructively within the EU in relation to the proposal for COVID-19 waivers on intellectual property. 

The EU has observed that access to intellectual property rights does not represent the primary obstacle to vaccine supply and access. The EU has argued that, amongst other things, limited numbers of skilled personnel, availability of raw materials and other inputs, complex supply chains, and the regulatory environment for the control and approval for each vaccine component, represent more significant bottlenecks to the production of COVID-19 vaccines.  For those manufacturers in a position to resolve these bottlenecks, the EU position is that existing flexibilities within the TRIPS agreement can facilitate access to the required technologies.

In the meantime, Team Europe is actively working to reduce barriers to vaccine and medicine production and to ensure more rapid and equitable access to these technologies. Through a specific programme worth over €1 billion, entitled the MAV+ programme, the EU will help create an enabling environment for vaccine manufacturing in Africa. 

The COVID Technology Access Pool, (C-TAP) was launched by the WHO and the Government of Costa Rica in 2020, to encourage the sharing of COVID-19 relevant technology, intellectual property and knowhow. The initiative is relevant to multiple Government Departments, including the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Foreign Affairs; Health; and Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.   The European Commission has been working with EU Member States including Ireland, international partners and stakeholders to define options for possible cooperation.

Ireland continues to promote the sharing of technology through various means, for example, the intellectual property underpinning Ireland’s COVID Tracker App has been shared to assist other countries in their contact tracing efforts.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ireland fully supports international efforts to ensure an effective global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the need for fair access to knowledge, property rights, and technology.

My Department, through the Irish Aid programme, has responded with a global public health investment of €200 million over the past two years, with further Irish Aid investment in global public health to come this year.   An insight from Irish Aid’s long-standing contribution to the flights against HIV and Ebola is that effective public health systems are essential to containing infectious diseases.  Our response  includes support to the WHO, to GAVI The Vaccines Alliance, and to the Global Fund for TB, HIV / AIDS and Malaria, as well as to health system strengthening in partner countries. 

€8.5million in Irish Aid financing went to the COVAX facility last year and I have this week authorised a further €5 million to COVAX.  This support complements the international vaccine sharing led by the Department of Health, on foot of a Government decision to donate up to 5 million doses to developing countries from Ireland’s surplus supply of COVID vaccines. In recent days, COVAX has reported the successful distribution of over 1 billion vaccines to 144 participating countries.

There are grounds for optimism that the WHO target of 70% of the world’s population receiving their primary vaccination by July this year can be achieved.  Assuming global vaccine production continues at its current rate, it is estimated that total production of vaccines since their introduction a year ago will reach 19 billion by July, an increase of around 8 billion on total global production to the end of last year.  The WHO estimates that a total of 12 billion doses would be required to achieve its 70% target, which suggests that distribution, rather than production, is the current challenge.

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), of which Ireland is a member. Any proposal for a waiver of the current intellectual property protections is subject to negotiation at the WTO. Furthermore, International Trade is an EU competence, meaning the EU represents the coordinated position of the 27 Member States, including in discussions on TRIPS at the WTO. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment leads on our engagement with the WTO. Ireland will continue to participate constructively within the EU in relation to the proposal for COVID-19 waivers on intellectual property.  

The EU has observed that access to intellectual property rights does not represent the primary obstacle to vaccine supply and access. The EU has argued that, amongst other things, limited numbers of skilled personnel, availability of raw materials and other inputs, complex supply chains, and the regulatory environment for the control and approval for each vaccine component, represent more significant bottlenecks to the production of COVID-19 vaccines.  For those manufacturers in a position to resolve these bottlenecks, the EU position is that existing flexibilities within the TRIPS agreement can facilitate access to the required technologies.

In the meantime, Team Europe is actively working to reduce barriers to vaccine and medicine production and to ensure more rapid and equitable access to these technologies. Through a specific programme worth over €1 billion, entitled the MAV+ programme, the EU will help create an enabling environment for vaccine manufacturing in Africa. 

The COVID Technology Access Pool, (C-TAP) was launched by the WHO and the Government of Costa Rica in 2020, to encourage the sharing of COVID-19 relevant technology, intellectual property and knowhow. The initiative is relevant to multiple Government Departments, including the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Foreign Affairs; Health; and Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science.   The European Commission has been working with EU Member States including Ireland, international partners and stakeholders to define options for possible cooperation.

Ireland continues to promote the sharing of technology through various means, for example, the intellectual property underpinning Ireland’s COVID Tracker App has been shared to assist other countries in their contact tracing efforts.