Biden administration supports waiving intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines
AP
A Turkish Health Ministry official displays a box containing vials of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines in a cold storage warehouse in Istanbul, Monday, March 29, 2021. (Turkish Health Ministry via AP)
By: Scripps National , The Associated Press
Posted at 3:07 PM, May 05, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-05 16:07:59-04
WASHINGTONâ The Biden administration is throwing its support behind efforts to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to speed the end of the pandemic.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the governmentâs position in a Wednesday statement, amid World Trade Organization talks over easing global trade rules to enable more countries to produce more of the life-saving vaccines.
Mandel Ngan / AFP
President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he plans to back a World Trade Organisation waiver for vaccine intellectual property and would talk about it later in the day. Yes, I m going to talk about that later today, yes, Biden told reporters in reply to a question about whether he intended to back the waiver after he gave a speech regarding his proposed American Rescue Plan.
These extraordinary times and circumstances of call for extraordinary measures. The US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic and we’ll actively participate in @WTO negotiations to make that happen. pic.twitter.com/96ERlboZS8 Ambassador Katherine Tai (@AmbassadorTai) May 5, 2021
By Josh FeldmanMay 5th, 2021, 4:18 pm
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
The Biden administration is supporting covid-19 vaccine patent waivers amid the ongoing global vaccination rollout and public calls for the U.S. to back the effort.
U.S. Trade Representative
Katherine Tai said in a statement explaining the decision, “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 World Trade Organization is currently discussing the matter and, as CNN reported, India and South Africa are introducing a revised proposal soon.
While no decision was made, the discussion was “far more constructive, pragmatic, it was less emotive and less finger-pointing” than on previous occasions, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told a media briefing…
JUST IN: Biden Administration Announces Support for Covid-19 Vaccine Patent Waiver Mediaite 5/5/2021
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
The Biden administration is supporting covid-19 vaccine patent waivers amid the ongoing global vaccination rollout and public calls for the U.S. to back the effort.
U.S. Trade Representative
Katherine Tai said in a statement explaining the decision, “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 World Trade Organization is currently discussing the matter and, as CNN reported, India and South Africa are introducing a revised proposal soon.