United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai says that making vaccines more widely available throughout the world is needed to end the coronavirus pandemic and foster economic recovery.
In remarks to a Council of the Americas conference on Tuesday, Tai said the world had made real strides towards ending the pandemic but that a lot of work lies ahead.
“That includes making the vaccine widely available and addressing the global inequity in vaccine access,” she said. “This is not just a public health requirement. Our economic recovery depends on it.”
Tai is due to discuss demands from developing countries for a World Trade Organization (WTO) waiver of intellectual property rights on coronavirus vaccines during a WTO General Council meeting later this week.
Image via Getty/Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle
The White House has announced it is supporting waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to expand access to vaccines worldwide.
“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.”
President Joe Biden supported the waivers during his 2020 presidential run, despite pharmaceutical companies applying some pressure. The preliminary move doesn’t guarantee patent rules will be altered immediately.
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Updated
May 11, 2021
Biden To Support Waiving Patents For COVID-19 Vaccines
As vaccination rates increase in the U.S., developing nations which have sought the patent waiver for months are facing massive coronavirus outbreaks.
By Daniel Marans and Sara Boboltz
The Biden administration plans to support a temporary waiver on patents and other intellectual property rules preventing developing countries from mass-producing generic COVID-19 vaccines, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced on Wednesday.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the Biden administration s support for the waiver on Wednesday.
A group of developing countries led by India and South Africa was pushing for the move, which comes as a relief for global public health advocates.