Alexander Pearson and Arne DelfsBerlin —
The US government said it on Wednesday it would support a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines. SA and India have led a group of countries that have been urging the suspension of the Word Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property on Covid-19 vaccines.
The US, Germany and other countries will take up debate over the idea in the coming weeks via the WTO, pitting the idea of sharing proprietary know-how against the need to boost global supplies, especially in developing countries that have struggled to get their populations inoculated. Officials and diplomats in Brussels cautioned that such discussions will take months and will probably result in partial waivers only, as there’s little chance the EU and the US will agree to cede intellectual property for the revolution of its mRNA technology with China.
As the US inoculations advanced and outbreaks diminished in recent weeks, the White House came under pressure from progressive Democrats and public-health advocates to take a stance while India in particular suffers from surging deaths and infections.
Is Melinda divorcing Bill Gates over Jeffrey Epstein?