US announces support for patent waiver on Covid vaccines
Joe Biden’s administration supports waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines, following global pressure to temporarily suspend patent provisions in the face of the public health crisis.
“These extraordinary times and circumstances of call for extraordinary measures,” US trade ambassador Katherine Tai announced on Wednesday.
The World Trade Organization is mulling whether to temporarily waive the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement, which has effectively provided pharmaceutical companies monopoly control over vaccine production, potentially locking out poor countries from expanding their supplies.
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