Biden Admin to Support Patent Protections for Covid-19 Vaccines

This comes after cases have been surging in India and other countries.

Yesterday the Biden Administration announced it would support waiving patent protections for covid-19 vaccines. This comes after cases have been surging in India and other countries. yesterday afternoon, Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative, said “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.” She added, “as our vaccine supply for the American people is secured, the administration will continue to ramp up its efforts to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution.” In a world trade organization meeting taking place this week, Tai also claimed the Biden administration would negotiate the fine print of the waiver. The U.S. and some other wealthy countries have been criticized for the speed of vaccine rollouts while other poorer countries struggle to obtain vaccines. This is something experts have said could prolong the pandemic globally.