US set a bold example by waiving patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines
WASHINGTON: The US government has agreed to waive intellectual property rights for the COVID-19 vaccine. The decision will result in increasing vaccine production and reaching a larger number of people. It is estimated that the price of the vaccine will also come down.
Most companies could not manufacture the vaccine because the United States currently holds the patent for some vaccines. Various countries and the World Health Organisation have pointed out that this is causing major problems in the fight against COVID-19.
The United States has an additional 300 million doses at a time when many economically backward countries are facing severe vaccine shortages. This caused a lot of criticism for the Biden administration.
The Biden government decided to waive its patent rights to the vaccine in the face of mounting opposition within the US and the Democratic Party. The US decision to waive the patent was officially announced by Katherine Tai, the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. 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,” Katherine Tai wrote in a statement.
The World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised the US decision. “This is monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19” he tweeted. He added that the US decision to waive patent rights is an example of how strong leadership should act in the face of global health crises.
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