New Delhi, May 6: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday urged the central government to immediately license all patents necessary for vaccine and drug production the way it was done in the United States.

"USA supports waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines. Here is an immediate 2-point agenda for increasing vaccine and medicine availability. "Hope you will give this your serious consideration, @PiyushGoyal. It is a logical consequence of the stance we have taken at the WTO," Ramesh said on Twitter. COVID-19 Surge in India: PM Narendra Modi’s Govt to Supreme Court, Says ‘People Gave Their Mandate to Us Twice, Concerned About Their Suffering’.

Congress Leader Jairam Ramesh's Tweet

"The Union Government must issue notification under Sections 92 and 100 of the Patents Act to freely license all patents necessary for vaccine and drug production, including for equipment and all raw materials for vaccines, hospital equipment and drugs to treat COVID-19," he further said.

Ramesh said that the issue of the amount of royalties could be decided in due course as laid out in the Patents Act but it should not come in the way of immediate licensing by the government.

The central government must provide full support to those companies and institutions which have facilities to scale up vaccine production, the former Union minister added.

The Indian industry has a well-respected expertise and capability to rapidly manufacture raw materials, consumables and equipment necessary to produce drugs, vaccines and medical devices if Intellectual Property barriers are removed, he noted.

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