[ad_1]
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on April 28, 2021.
Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP, File
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it supports waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines in a bid to allow more nations to produce and distribute the life-saving shots.
“This a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” US 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.”
Any such waiver must be agreed to by the World Trade Organization’s general council, and Tai warned that “negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved.”
As countries like India and Brazil grapple with a surge in coronavirus cases, suspending intellectual property protections on vaccines has gained support among left-wing lawmakers in the West. More than 100 countries have come out in support of the proposal, and a group of 110 Democratic members of Congress sent Biden a letter last month calling on him to support the waiver.
Opponents of the move, including countries with influential pharmaceutical and biotech industries, say the waiver would do nothing to increase production of vaccines and could hurt future innovation.
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized three coronavirus vaccines for emergency use in the United States. They are manufactured by Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
With Post wires
[ad_2]
Source link