Patent waiver on COVID‐19 vaccine: Indonesian law perspective

Abstract

AbstractThe second year of the COVID‐19 pandemic has not shown any sign of decline. Considering that COVID‐19 is a new virus variant, and vaccines are pharmaceutical and life science products that are full of inventions and innovations, the issue of vaccine patents is in the spotlight and attention of the world. Previously, Indonesia had taken the Government's Patent Implementation mechanism for antiviral and antiretroviral drugs used for HIV and Hepatitis B in an effort to reduce the price of these drugs. In light of the global impact of the COVID‐19 Pandemic that causes a large number of victims, the idea arose to apply a patent waiver to the COVID‐19 vaccine. Second, to formulate what efforts the Government of Indonesia can take in responding to the patent waiver. Results of this study indicate that a patent waiver will actually have an impact on the exclusive rights attached to the inventor, but efforts to implement patents by the Government while respecting patent holders are considered appropriate in emergency conditions such as the COVID‐19 pandemic situation, to increase the supply of vaccines globally and provide convenience for the public to access the COVID‐19 vaccine. Second, in an effort to address the COVID‐19 vaccine patent waiver, Indonesia can apply the Government's Patent Implementation for the COVID‐19 vaccine to reduce the price of the vaccine to fulfill public health rights in the midst of the pandemic, while still respecting the vaccine inventors.