Abstract

The Covid-19 catastrophe has impacted numerous lives, and the arrival of vaccines gave a ray of hope in the times of despair, however inoculating of a massive population is only possible if there is a mass production of vaccines followed by their equitable distribution, but this is only achievable by impediment of the production and distribution rights that the developed counties who are the prominent manufactures of vaccines, enjoy. TRIPS (Trade Related Aspect Of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement is an agreement that provides extensive protection of intellectual property rights to its members, therefore recently India and South Africa have in conjunction proposed the World Trade Organisation to waive certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement for equitable distribution and mass production of covid -19 vaccines. Though there are certain flexibilities available like compulsory licensing pertaining to the patented products but, that alone is not enough to accelerate vaccine production in any nation as there are a multitude of collateral rights attached to production of vaccines, therefore production based on merely available flexibilities like compulsory licensing is not enough to achieve the mass manufacture of vaccines . Therefore, this paper focuses upon the TRIPS agreement along with other declarations present pertaining to IP protection, and also the dissemination of views between the developed and the developing countries concerning the waiver of certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement, which is making difficult to archive a collateral agreement regarding the waiver.

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