Global pandemic treaty to avert future mishap
GS Paper 1: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Important For:
Mains Exam: Preparedness for future panemics
“Nobody is safe until everybody is safe.”
A pandemic treaty under the umbrella of the World Health Organization would build coherence and avoid fragmentation of response.
Severity of this pandemic demands such treaty
COVID-19 would count as being among some of the most severe pandemics the world has seen in the last 100 years.
- An estimated 18 million people may have died from COVID-19, according various credible estimates, a scale of loss not seen since the Second World War.
- Further, with over 120 million people pushed into extreme poverty, and a massive global recession.
Widespread health inequity
- Gross inequity in distribution: Health-care systems have been stretched beyond their capacity and gross health inequity has been observed in the distribution of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics across the world.
- Monopolies: Monopolies held by pharma majors such as Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna created at least nine new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and made over $1,000 a second in profits, even as fewer of their vaccines reached people in low-income countries.
- Parity in vaccination: As of March 2022, only 3% of people in low-income countries had been vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to 60.18% in high-income countries. The international target to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population against COVID-19 by mid-2022 was missed because poorer countries were at the “back of the queue” when vaccines were rolled out.
India’s lead role
- Exemplary response: India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and reinstating global equity by leveraging its own potential has set an example to legislators worldwide.
- Vaccine diplomacy: India produces nearly 60% of the world’s vaccines and is said to account for 60%-80% of the United Nations’ annual vaccine procurement –“vaccine diplomacy” or “vaccine maitri” with a commitment against health inequity.
- The unhalted supply: India was unfettered in its resolve to continue the shipment of vaccines and other diagnostics even when it was experiencing a vaccine shortage for domestic use. There was only a brief period of weeks during the peak of the second wave in India when the vaccine mission was halted.
- A classic example of global cooperation: As of 2021, India shipped 594.35 lakh doses of ‘Made-in-India’ COVID-19 vaccines to 72 countries a classic example of global cooperation.
- Breaking the vaccine giants’ hegemony: The long tussle with the pharma majors over vaccine patents held back the global vaccination drive. But India stood as a global leader, moving a proposal with South Africa to ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) ‘to allow all countries to choose to neither grant nor enforce patents and other intellectual property related to COVID-19 drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other technologies for the duration of the pandemic, until global herd immunity is achieved.
Path ahead: What should be the provisions of the treaty?
- Data sharing: The treaty should cover crucial aspects such as data sharing and genome sequencing of emerging viruses for better preparedness.
- Rapid response mechanism: It should formally commit governments to implement an early warning system and a properly funded rapid response mechanism.
- Health investments: It should mobilize nations to agree on a set of common metrics that are related to health investments and a return on those investments. These investments should aim to reduce the public-private sector gap.
Conclusion
A global pandemic treaty will not only reduce socioeconomic inequalities across nation states but also enhance a global pandemic preparedness for future health emergencies. India must take the lead in this.
Global pandemic treaty to avert future mishap
GS Paper 1: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Important For:
Mains Exam: Preparedness for future panemics
“Nobody is safe until everybody is safe.”
A pandemic treaty under the umbrella of the World Health Organization would build coherence and avoid fragmentation of response.
Severity of this pandemic demands such treaty
COVID-19 would count as being among some of the most severe pandemics the world has seen in the last 100 years.
- An estimated 18 million people may have died from COVID-19, according various credible estimates, a scale of loss not seen since the Second World War.
- Further, with over 120 million people pushed into extreme poverty, and a massive global recession.
Widespread health inequity
- Gross inequity in distribution: Health-care systems have been stretched beyond their capacity and gross health inequity has been observed in the distribution of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics across the world.
- Monopolies: Monopolies held by pharma majors such as Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna created at least nine new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and made over $1,000 a second in profits, even as fewer of their vaccines reached people in low-income countries.
- Parity in vaccination: As of March 2022, only 3% of people in low-income countries had been vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to 60.18% in high-income countries. The international target to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population against COVID-19 by mid-2022 was missed because poorer countries were at the “back of the queue” when vaccines were rolled out.
India’s lead role
- Exemplary response: India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and reinstating global equity by leveraging its own potential has set an example to legislators worldwide.
- Vaccine diplomacy: India produces nearly 60% of the world’s vaccines and is said to account for 60%-80% of the United Nations’ annual vaccine procurement –“vaccine diplomacy” or “vaccine maitri” with a commitment against health inequity.
- The unhalted supply: India was unfettered in its resolve to continue the shipment of vaccines and other diagnostics even when it was experiencing a vaccine shortage for domestic use. There was only a brief period of weeks during the peak of the second wave in India when the vaccine mission was halted.
- A classic example of global cooperation: As of 2021, India shipped 594.35 lakh doses of ‘Made-in-India’ COVID-19 vaccines to 72 countries a classic example of global cooperation.
- Breaking the vaccine giants’ hegemony: The long tussle with the pharma majors over vaccine patents held back the global vaccination drive. But India stood as a global leader, moving a proposal with South Africa to ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) ‘to allow all countries to choose to neither grant nor enforce patents and other intellectual property related to COVID-19 drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other technologies for the duration of the pandemic, until global herd immunity is achieved.
Path ahead: What should be the provisions of the treaty?
- Data sharing: The treaty should cover crucial aspects such as data sharing and genome sequencing of emerging viruses for better preparedness.
- Rapid response mechanism: It should formally commit governments to implement an early warning system and a properly funded rapid response mechanism.
- Health investments: It should mobilize nations to agree on a set of common metrics that are related to health investments and a return on those investments. These investments should aim to reduce the public-private sector gap.
Conclusion
A global pandemic treaty will not only reduce socioeconomic inequalities across nation states but also enhance a global pandemic preparedness for future health emergencies. India must take the lead in this.