WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the 2021 SADC seminar on TRIPS waiver - 23 November 2021

Your Excellency Madam Dlamini-Mntambo,

My friend, Your Excellency Dr Mpoki,

Mr Gareth Bloor,

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Thank you for the opportunity to join you today to discuss this very important topic.

The development of safe and effective vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19, in record time, is a triumph for science.

But the grave inequity in access to those vaccines has undermined this great accomplishment.

There remains a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines. Over 7.3 billion vaccines have been administered globally, but nearly 70% of those have gone to just ten countries.

Almost 40% of the world's population is now fully vaccinated, but in Africa, it's only 6%.

We see the same inequities in access to tests and treatments, and the potential for further inequities as new tools are developed. Recent results from trials of new therapeutics look very promising, but because they will be limited in supply and expensive, they present the same challenges for equitable access.

WHO continues to work with the World Trade Organization to advocate for immediate and sustainable solutions to address intellectual property and other barriers to access for vaccines and other life-saving tools.

To end the acute phase of this pandemic, WHO has set a target to vaccinate at least 40% of the population of every country by the end of the year, and 70% by mid-next year.

To reach those targets, we need 11 billion doses of vaccine. Urgent dose sharing is vital to fill our current supply gap. But dose sharing is a short-term solution.

To truly address the vaccine crisis and to enhance health security, we need to dramatically scale-up manufacturing in low and middle-income countries.

Currently, the global production capacity of COVID-19 vaccines and other priority health products is concentrated in a few countries.

Diversifying production capacity - particularly in lower- and middle-income countries - will help to increase access now, and strengthen health security for the future.

Strengthening local manufacturing in Africa is a key priority for WHO that has many benefits: for health security, for ensuring a reliable supply of safe and effective medicines, and for creating jobs and economic opportunities.

In the short term, it's essential that we remove all barriers to scaling up production, including through technology transfer, freeing up supply chains, and a waiver of intellectual property rights under the TRIPS agreement for the duration of the pandemic, as proposed by South Africa and India, and supported by more than 100 countries.

The flexibilities in the TRIPS agreement are there to be used in emergencies. If not now, then when?

The implementation of this waiver would release developing countries from restrictions to accessing the data, know-how and intellectual property for essential health technologies.

And it would create a critical legal pathway for more diversified and sustainable production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.

I want to emphasise that WHO values the role of the private sector in the pandemic and in every area of health.

But this pandemic is an unprecedented crisis that demands unprecedented action.

With so many lives on the line, profits and patents must come second to the human right to health, and the long-term economic and social impacts of ending the pandemic.

To support local production, WHO is also supporting the establishment of an mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in the SADC region, in South Africa and a regional platform to advance the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals.

Strengthening local production should also go hand-in-hand with strengthening regulatory systems in countries - such as through the African Medicines Agency - to ensure quality, safety and efficacy throughout the product lifecycle.

Last year we also established C-TAP, the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, to facilitate the voluntary, transparent and non-exclusive licensing of patents, transfer of know-how and data.

Just today, the first licensing and technology transfer agreement for C-TAP was announced with the Spanish National Research Institute, for a worldwide, transparent and non-exclusive voluntary license for the production of a COVID-19 antibody test.

Let me leave you with three requests:

First, we seek the support of the Canadian government for the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 products at the WTO Ministerial Conference that begins this week.

Second, we seek the support of all countries in speeding up negotiations that result in a text that countries can implement easily in their national legislation.

WHO strongly recommends that the waiver apply not only to vaccines, but also to diagnostics, therapeutics and other tools to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19.

Third, we urge all SADC members to explore all avenues to rapidly scale-up production, including through the use of TRIPS flexibilities, technology pools, voluntary licenses, and by investing in local production.

Excellencies, the COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis unlike any we have faced before.

But every crisis is an opportunity. We have an opportunity unlike any before to create a healthier, safer, fairer future for Africa and the whole world.

It takes vision, courageous leadership and above all, true solidarity.

I thank you.

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