Make COVID-19 vaccine available to all sans patent protection: Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus

NOIDA (UP): Coronavirus vaccine should not be protected with a patent right and be made accessible to all, Bangladesh Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus said on Tuesday.

Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, also called for the creation of a social business pharmaceutical company for the benefit of people and society at large.

"The new world needs a check-post where fossil fuels and plastics etc. do not get through and take tough decisions as it is the right time to do so," he said in a webinar organised by Amity University, Noida.

"The corona (virus) vaccine should not be protected with a patent right, should have no commercial ownership and be made accessible to all," Yunus said, according to a statement.

During a discussion on the role of social business in the post-COVID world, he stressed the need for ensuring that the planet is handed over to the next generation in a much safer condition.

Noting that people have to be creative during these times, he said the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the weaknesses of society and the informal sector with the mass exodus of migrant workers, stopping the economic engine.

He said society was "rushing to a disaster and destruction" before the pandemic struck and people should collectively ensure that they do not return to "the old world".

"Global warming and wealth concentration were affecting at an alarming rate like a ticking time bomb. The global lockdown made the train moving towards destruction stop and now society should not go back to the old world," he said, according to the statement.

He also stressed the need to rebuild and redesign institutions as well as the thought process in the light of "social businesses" during the session moderated by Aseem Chauhan, Chancellor of Amity University, Rajasthan.