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Germany poured cold water on Thursday on a proposal by U.S. President Joe Biden to waive patents for coronavirus vaccines, saying that it sees the protection of intellectual property as a crucial source of innovation.
While Berlin veered away from outright rejection, it expressed strong skepticism toward the U.S. proposal to allow more vaccine-deficient countries to produce COVID-19 shots themselves — a sudden move that wrong-footed the EU on Thursday.
“The U.S. proposal to remove patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines has significant implications for vaccine production overall,” a government spokesperson said. “The limiting factor in vaccine manufacturing is production capacity and high quality standards, not patents.”
“The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also praised vaccine producers in Germany and the EU for already working “with great commitment” to increase production capacity in Europe and worldwide.
“The German government stands behind the goal of a global supply of COVID-19 vaccines,” the spokesperson said. “Germany is supporting the COVAX initiative with around €1 billion, with the aim of ensuring that as many people in the world as possible have access to vaccines.”
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