US wants patent exemption to help poor countries
The Biden administration announced that the United States will begin negotiations in the WTO for the exemption of the duties over COVID-19 vaccines
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, supported on Wednesday that the nation will begin negotiations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to take the exemption of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines as a way to allow the increase in the supply of vaccines in various countries of the world.
The intent is to ensure that a Covid-19 vaccine patent exemption does not deliver sensitive US biopharmaceutical technology to China and Russia.
This patent will serve to help the most vulnerable countries, as announced by US officials.At the moment, vaccines have reached the richest nations in a highly expensive way and the rate of infection by the virus has decreased as the vaccination process develops, but the infection continues to increase in more than 30 countries.
For his part, Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer Inc., said on Friday that the proposed exemption would interrupt the progress made so far in increasing vaccine supplies.
“It will unleash a fight for the critical supplies we need to make a safe and effective vaccine. Entities with little or no vaccine manufacturing experience are likely to pursue the same raw materials we need to scale our production, putting everyone’s safety and security at risk,” Bourla said.
K. Villarroel
Source: larepublica
