#108 コロナワクチンとパテント問題

大人口を擁するインドでも感染者数が莫大に増えています。そのインドで報告されている変異ウイルスが、東京都内でも検出されているそうです。

バイデン大統領は、世界貿易機関（WTO）で提案された「新型コロナウイルスワクチン特許の一時放棄」を支持する、と5月5日に表明しました。

ただ、「一時放棄を支持する」からといって 、即座にパテントフリーのワクチン製造が始まるわけではありません。

Patents Are Just One Piece Of The Global Vaccine Manufacturing Problem : The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR Politics Podcastによると、実際にパテントフリーワクチンが市場に出回るには、あと2年はかかるのではないか？ということです。

パテントをクリアできたとしても、モロモロの課題が山積しているからです。
TamとSydneyの会話、3分10秒から4分19秒です。

Tam: In fact, the way the White House is talking about this, is they're saying this is going to be a months-long negotiation at the World Trade Organization.

Sydney: Yeah, basically these are really complicated biologic products. They're not like small-molecule generic drugs. They're made from living cells so they’re really hard to make. And of course, Pfizer and Moderna are making mRNA vaccines and they're literally the first to ever do that commercially. So not only do you need the facilities with the right capabilities to do it, you need to hire and train staff, get equipment supplies, run ingredient know-how. Plus you need to get processes in place that these companies don't sound too keen to necessarily help out with. And even when that all happens, it's not clear how the additional digital vaccines, sort of made from sharing the patents, are going to be regulated. Like, do you need to have new clinical trials, some kind of abbreviated study to prove that the vaccines made through the patent sharing or similar to the original? So this is not going to help necessarily in the short run. In two years, we might see, I think, more likely...that's when it will help.