Sen. Risa Hontiveros. (File) Screen grab / Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a Senate resolution urging Malacañang to support an international campaign to ease intellectual property (IP) agreements to ensure universal access to an affordable and effective vaccine against the coronavirus disease 2019.
Senate Resolution No. 560 calls on the government through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to support the proposal of India and South Africa for the World Trade Organization to suspend the implementation, application, and enforcement of relevant provisions under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the COVID-19 vaccine.
TRIPS seeks to protect IP but has in the past made new medicine and medical technology extremely expensive especially for developing countries, Hontiveros said in a statement Thursday.
For Hontiveros, it is “inhumane” and “unjust” to let stringent IP regulations stand in the way against access to a vaccine in the time of a global pandemic.
“Commercial prices of medicine and technology have been roadblocks to proper health care many times before. But this is a crisis that has put even the world’s economy to a halt, and will continue to do so if an available vaccine isn’t distributed immediately and strategically,” the senator said.
Hontiveros noted that while developing countries are in dire need of funds for social services and essential expenditures for employment, health, and education, they will also need to realign budget to procure vaccines.
She said it is crucial that the Philippines joins the call to seek the support of the international community so that even the poorest of the poor will be provided protection against COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 vaccine should not be treated as a product to be sold to the highest bidder. Billions of lives are at stake here. Only universal access to COVID-19 vaccine will save the global community from illness and economic paralysis,” she said.