Scheibner James, Nielsen Jane, Nicol Dianne
College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Ring Road, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA 5048, Australia.
Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania, Grosvenor Crescent, Sandy Bay Hobart, Tasmania, TAS 7005, Australia.
J Law Biosci. 2022 Jul 12;9(2):lsac020. doi: 10.1093/jlb/lsac020. eCollection 2022 Jul-Dec.
This article posits that Australia, as an affluent country with increasing capacity to manufacture vaccines, has an obligation to assist its regional (and global) counterparts in implementing vaccination programs that protect their populations. First, the article explores the capacity of high-income nations to meet their obligations, assist their neighbours and refrain from vaccine nationalism. This inquiry involves an analysis of the optimal ethical strategy for distributing vaccines globally, and the role that Australia might play in this distribution strategy. Secondly, the article examines the intellectual property landscape for vaccines in Australia, focusing on the patents that cover vaccine compositions and manufacturing techniques (recognizing the potential for know-how and access to materials as well as patents to affect manufacturing capacity). This article then discusses the strategies the Australian Government has at its disposal to counter potential intellectual property impediments whilst complying with existing obligations under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), as an ethically appropriate response to the pandemic. This article also considers whether a so-called TRIPS waiver could provide better options and concludes that the challenge of compelling disclosure of know-how remains.
本文认为，澳大利亚作为一个制造疫苗能力不断增强的富裕国家，有义务协助其地区（及全球）伙伴实施保护其民众的疫苗接种计划。首先，本文探讨了高收入国家履行其义务、协助邻国以及避免疫苗民族主义的能力。这一探究涉及对全球疫苗分配的最佳伦理策略的分析，以及澳大利亚在这一分配策略中可能发挥的作用。其次，本文审视了澳大利亚疫苗的知识产权格局，重点关注涵盖疫苗成分和制造技术的专利（认识到专有技术、材料获取以及专利对制造能力的潜在影响）。本文接着讨论了澳大利亚政府在遵守《与贸易有关的知识产权协定》（TRIPS）现有义务的同时，为应对潜在的知识产权障碍可采用的策略，作为对这一疫情符合伦理的恰当回应。本文还考虑了所谓的TRIPS豁免是否能提供更好的选择，并得出结论认为，迫使披露专有技术的挑战依然存在。
