Biden call fuels vaccine effort for poor nations
May 14, 2021
After U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise turnaround in favour of temporarily suspending patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines, Church leaders are redoubling their lobbying, hoping a World Trade Organization agreement will get vaccines into arms south of the equator.
Meanwhile Canada refuses to say whether it will support the new U.S. position at the next WTO meetings June 8-9.
At previous WTO meetings to discuss the issue, Canada asked a series of wide-ranging questions about how the TRIPS waiver would speed up vaccine production and distribution. The questions prevented the proposal from moving forward.