As the second wave of COVID-19 has struck with a devastating impact throughout the country, with cases rising continuously, there is an urgent need to ramp up the production of Covaxin and Covishield through voluntary licensing, said Sanjay Aggarwal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Voluntary Licensing refers to the authorization given by the patent holder to a third party to manufacture and sell the patented product on the basis of mutually agreed terms.

"The second wave is spreading faster than the first wave and affecting almost every household in India. At this critical juncture there is a need to urgently provide licensing of production of Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik.

Compulsory Licensing is another way of granting a license by the Government to a third party to use the patent, however, this may not be very useful in the case of  manufacturing of technologically advanced COVID-19 vaccinations.

At this juncture, the Government should facilitate and encourage Bharat Biotech, Oxford-Astra Zeneca and RDIF to grant Voluntary Licenses alongwith transfer of technology, even if for a limited period of one year,  for the production of Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik to more and more pharmaceutical companies in India on mutually accepted terms so as  to maximise the production and supply of vaccines in the country", he added.