Read more about India asks WTO members to finish talks on vaccine patent waiver by July-end on Business Standard. The country would also like to enter into line-by-line negotiations on the text and it is open and flexible to engage in all possible formats, whether, in plenary or small group meetings, India said
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The world is still reeling from the novel coronavirus that emerged from Wuhan, China, more than one year ago. The most effective mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been created and manufactured (in record time) by U.S. companies (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson), and a clear majority of grateful Americans have now been inoculated with them. Meanwhile, much of the developing world is still in desperate need of vaccines, and Americans naturally want to help. The question is how.
In early May, the Biden Administration said it would support the deliberate waiver of international intellectual property rights (IPR) protections for American-made COVID-19 vaccines.REF The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement is the global mechanism to protect member countries’ IPR. The Administration wants to waive TRIPS protectionREF for U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines and allow countries t
People’s vaccine against mutating virus and neoliberal rule
Teachers and students were able to return to school in Lao Cai, Viet Nam, in May 2020. UNICEF
A RECENT Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that worries about the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States are at their lowest level since it began. Only half of Americans are either ‘very worried’ (15 per cent) or ‘somewhat worried’ (35 per cent) about the virus, while the other half is ‘not very worried’ (30 per cent) or ‘not worried at all’ (20 per cent).
But the news from around the world makes it clear that this pandemic is far from over, and a story from Vietnam highlights the nature of the danger.
The U.S. is expected to provide 500 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses to 100 nations over the next year.
President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, on Wednesday shortly before the president’s first trip abroad.Credit.Tom Brenner for The New York Times
June 9, 2021, 11:53 a.m. ET
The White House has reached an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech to provide 500 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to about 100 countries over the next year, a pact that President Biden plans to announce as early as Thursday, according to multiple people familiar with the plan.
Under intense pressure to do more to address the global vaccine shortage and the disparities in vaccination between rich and poor nations, the president hinted at the plan Wednesday morning, when he was asked if he had a vaccination strategy for the world.
WTO resumes talks
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja with agency report
World Bank President, Mr. David Malpass, said yesterday that the bank does not support waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, noting that he was concerned that it would hamper innovation in the pharmaceuticals sector.
His comments on the subject, made during a call with reporters on World Bank economic forecasts, came as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), negotiations over the proposed waiver resumed in Geneva.
Asked whether he backs a WTO vaccine IP waiver, which India, South Africa and other emerging market countrie needed to expand vaccine access, Malpass said the bank would not support the call.