The Biden administration supports efforts to lift intellectual property safeguards for Covid-19 vaccines to hasten the end of the pandemic. This was reported by the US trade representative, Katherine Tai, announcing the position of the US government.
“The administration strongly believes in intellectual property protections, but to put an end to this pandemic it supports the lifting of these protections for vaccines against Covid-19,” Tai said, while discussions are underway at the WTO on easing global trade rules to allow more countries to produce more life-saving vaccines. However, Tai warned that it will take time to reach the consensus required to revoke patents under WTO rules.
“This is a global health crisis and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic require extraordinary measures,” continued Tai, noting that “the purpose of the administration is to provide as many safe and effective vaccines as possible to as many people as possible. as fast as possible”. The announcement came hours after WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke at a closed-door meeting of developing and developed country ambassadors who quarreled over the issue but agreed on the need for wider access to coronavirus treatments, WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell said.
The WTO general council, made up of ambassadors, is addressing the key issue of a temporary revocation of patents for Covid-19 vaccines and other tools, which South Africa and India first proposed in October. According to Rockwell, a WTO intellectual property panel will have to deal with the proposal again at a preliminary meeting this month, ahead of a formal meeting scheduled for June 8 and 9.