Respect for innovation is key to faster global vaccine supply

By Song Kyung-jin

As countries around the world are still struggling to vaccinate their populations, their efforts are undermined by the insufficient and inequitable production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to "Our World in Data," 32.4 percent of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 24.4 percent has been fully vaccinated as of Aug. 22.

The figures are a far cry from the goal of having vaccinated 70 percent of the world's population to achieve global herd immunity, which will require at least 11 billion vaccine doses. The world needs faster vaccine production and distribution for global public health and economic recovery.

Leaders' commitments and promises to increase the vaccine supply abound. I have been heartened by the string of positive news. As recent as July of this year, some leaders of APEC member nations, including U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, pledged to increase vaccine supply.

Last October, India and South Africa proposed that the World Trade Organization (WTO) suspend intellectual property rights for all COVID-19-related vaccines and treatments, in a bid to scale up global production and supply. WTO negotiations are underway for a waiver from certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, the global rulebook for intellectual property, for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19. Over 100 countries, including the United States, have expressed their support for the TRIPS waiver.

However, little progress has been made towards facilitating better and faster global vaccine production and distribution, let alone the waiver. Given the fact that the WTO is a consensus-based organization, it may take months or even years to ever achieve it. Besides, members and important stakeholders are in such fierce disagreement that finding a solution looks like a long shot. Even with a WTO waiver deal, member countries will have to complete national procedures before application.

The world cannot afford to waste much time, with the resurgence of COVID-19 slowing global economic recovery. The world may need to re-direct its attention to enabling a faster and better vaccine supply. Central to doing so is close collaboration with vaccine innovators and existing manufacturing facilities. The intellectual property system and global competition have enabled the fastest vaccine development in history and will keep the innovators and developers incentivized. As a result, today there are 17 COVID-19 vaccines already in use ― 105 in clinical trials and another 184 vaccine candidates in pre-clinical development.

In striving towards boosting global production and supply, patent transfer alone will not make a third party produce vaccines at scale locally. Unlike HIV drugs, for instance, which are chemical products that chemists can easily copy, vaccines are biological products which make replication very difficult. The mRNA vaccines in particular are known for their complex production processes and technology. They require sophisticated know-how, essential materials, facilities and trained personnel to deal with production. It was in this context that Moderna announced in October 2020 its intention not to enforce its COVID-19-related patents during the pandemic. Therefore, scaling up existing production capacity will be a more effective way to achieve a broader and faster global supply than trying to build up capacity from scratch.

During a pandemic, no one is safe until everyone is safe. When only 1.4 percent of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated at least once, we have a problem. Vaccine-producing countries should commit to providing a certain quantity of doses to low-income countries at subsidized prices, as well as vaccine doses in oversupply for free, along with financial support. They may even seek agreements on reserving a temporary quota for low-income countries until global herd immunity is achieved.

While respecting and encouraging the private sector for continued investment and innovation, the government should play a proactive role, especially during this public health crisis. Operation Warp Speed, initiated by the Trump administration, was a public-private partnership with a budget of $18 billion that made possible the unprecedentedly rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, although their actual rollout has been the subject of criticism for falling short and being disorderly.

Korea should learn from the positive aspects of the U.S. experience. The Korean government allocated a meager 117.7 billion won ($99.5 million) for vaccine development in 2020-21. Of the country's entire R&D expenditures, the Korean government accounts for about 20 percent for all industries and 10 percent for manufacturing, which is far lower than the global average of 30 percent. The Korean government should make bold investments in risky and costly vaccine development and other innovation projects, while paying careful attention to their swift, universal and orderly distribution.

The world needs to be prepared to deal with the next pandemic. We need to scale up global manufacturing capacity, support global vaccine sharing efforts and encourage the voluntary transfer of vaccine production technologies on mutually agreed terms, as APEC leaders vowed in their July meeting. Close collaboration with the important stakeholders, including the innovators who hold intellectual property rights, is of essence to achieve these ambitious goals as quickly as possible.

Dr. Song Kyung-jin (kj_song@hotmail.com) led the Institute for Global Economics (IGE), based in Seoul, and served as special adviser to the chairperson of the Presidential Committee for the Seoul G20 Summit in the Office of the President. Now, she chairs the international cooperation committee called the Innovative Economy Forum.