Biden backs waiving international patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines
President Joe Biden threw his support behind a World Trade Organization (WTO) proposal on Wednesday to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.
This would clear a hurdle for other vaccine-strapped countries to manufacture their own vaccines even though the patents are privately held.
"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," United States trade representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.
"The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines."
The pace of vaccinating against the coronavirus in the U.S. is slowing down. In some places in the U.S., there are more vaccine doses than people who want them.
Meanwhile, India is now the epicenter of the pandemic with nearly half the world's 800,000 average new daily cases - and just 2% of its population is fully vaccinated.
At: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/05/05/993998745/biden-backs-waiving-international-patent-protections-for-covid-19-vaccines
Demonstrators held a rally on May 5th to "Free the Vaccine," calling on the U.S. to commit to a global coronavirus plan that includes sharing formulas with the world to help ensure that every nation has access to a vaccine, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The Biden administration today announced its support for a global waiver on patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines - which might let manufacturers in poorer countries make their own - and said it will negotiate the terms at the WTO.
The world's vaccination rate thus far, 13 per 100 people (excluding the U.S.), is about one sixth the U.S. total of 74 per 100 people.
