Description
Global Public Health Crisis has been inflamed due to the outbreak of Covid-19, which has caused immense loss of life and continues to do so. Globally, countries have continued to face shortages of health products and essential medical technology, which are necessary to fight. Countries producing actual health products had banned export, imposed restrictions, or raised prices. In contrast, Covid-19 diagnosis, medicines, vaccines, and other medical technologies are urgently needed in the right quantities to prevent and constrain several waves of covid globally. The exponential rise in the demand for health products and insufficient supply or no supply has raised questions about the effectiveness of the Doha Declaration, which was negotiated in 2001 between Developed and Developing Countries to thwart crises like Covid-19. Among all, a global vaccination drive and early diagnosis are essential to eliminate covid-19 which has been held hostage by vaccine-producing and IP-proprietor countries. This paper seeks to highlight implementation issues or challenges faced by Developing Countries while implementing TRIPS flexibilities recognised by Doha Declaration for accessing health products. Secondly, this study also aims to examine the following questions- has the MC12 decision of temporary TRIPS waiver for vaccine production helped the production of vaccines and vaccination globally? If not, why did WTO members fail to address the global public health crisis since no one is safe unless everyone is safe?
