The United States is considering options for maximising global production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines at the lowest cost, including backing a proposed waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights, but no decision has been made, according to the White House.
The announcement comes as the US and other Western countries have begun providing aid and lifting export controls on medical equipment and vaccine raw materials amid pressure from countries where deaths and infections are surging, notably India.
On Wednesday, India surpassed 200,000 deaths from the virus, although the actual count is expected to be much higher.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said “there are a lot of different ways” to maximise the global production of vaccines.
UPDATE 1-Top U.S. trade negotiator discussed vaccine ramp-up with Novavax exec Reuters 2 hrs ago
(Adds Novavax CEO meeting with S.Korean president; paragraphs 10-11)
WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai discussed increasing COVID-19 vaccine production in a virtual meeting on Tuesday with an executive with drugmaker Novavax, Tai s office said in a statement.
Tai and Novavax Executive Vice President John Trizzino also discussed a proposal before the World Trade Organization to waive certain intellectual property rights in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the USTR statement said. Ambassador Tai sought Mr. Trizzino s views on steps Novavax is taking to quickly increase equitable production and distribution of vaccines in the United States and around the world, the statement said.
As least developed countries (LDCs) join the rest of the world in rolling out Covid-19 vaccines, there are concerns over access, transparency, equity and human rights violations. Against this backdrop, Southern African Development Community (SADC) members of parliament are calling for all hands on board to build the region’s capacity to produce medicines and to ensure that citizens benefit from its vast medicinal plant resources.
A virtual joint session of the SADC Parliamentary Forum’s standing committees and the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, held on 15 April, called on SADC member states to harness the “flexibilities afforded by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips), to respond to their various communicable and non-communicable disease public health concerns”.
Biden Administration Considering Intellectual Property Rights Waiver for COVID Vaccines
The White House is considering options for maximizing global production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines at the lowest cost, including backing a proposed waiver of intellectual property rights, but no decision has been made, press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.
“There are a lot of different ways to do that. Right now, that’s one of the ways, but we have to assess what makes the most sense,” Psaki said, adding that U.S. officials were studying whether it would be more effective to boost existing manufacturing of the vaccines in the United States.