There’s Something Missing From Biden’s Move to Free the Covid Vaccines
Letting people copy Covid vaccines without being sued is good. Helping them do it is better.
Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images
People wait to get a dose of the Covid-19 Covishield vaccine in New Delhi.
In a breakthrough for global health, the Biden administration on Wednesday announced it would support an international waiver of intellectual property law for Covid-19 vaccines, medications, and medical supplies during the pandemic. In other words: Countries in dire need of the vaccines or therapeutics currently being given to Americans would be able to copy them without fear of being sued. International officials and activists applauded the decision as a necessary move to end the global spread of Covid-19 one that could set a precedent for future health crises.
Overnight, the US Government have announced they will support the proposal for the waiver on intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines at the WTO.
Trade Representative Katherine Tai made the announcement.
United States President Joseph Biden has made it clear that after weighing all the pros and cons he was in favor of waiving intellectual property rights on anticovid-19 vaccine patents so that they can be produced faster and the world can finally overcome the current pandemic.
Trade Representative Katherine Tai made the announcement. This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures, she 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. We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization needed to make that happen, she added.
US backs TRIPS waiver on vaccines at WTO
ANI
06 May 2021, 18:37 GMT+10
By Naveen KapoorWashington DC [US], May 6 (ANI): The United States is proving to be a real friend to India as it continues to battle the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After sending tonnes of medical aid in form of oxygen concentrators, generators, and critical medicine like Remdesivir to Delhi, the US has now decided to back India/South Africa joint proposal for TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
US trade representative Ambassador Katherine Tai said, These extraordinary times and circumstances call for extraordinary measures, The US supports the waiver of IP protection on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic and will actively participate in WTO negotiation to make that happen. In October last year, India and South Africa, along with 57 members of WTO proposed a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement for prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19.
Uniindia: New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) The World Trade Organization will consider in the second half of this month a revised text of the proposal India and South Africa are going to submit for a temporary waiver of certain patent-related obligations to access essential COVID-19 medicines and medical equipment.