US Backs Waiver on Covid-19 Vaccine Patents to Boost Supply
The US has added its support behind a move at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily lift patent protection for Covid-19 vaccines.
Gathogo Wanjiru 
India and South Africa proposed the plan to lift patent protection for covid-19 vaccines in a move they said would increase vaccine production around the world.
However, drug manufacturers argue that it may not have the desired effect.
America’s Trade representative Katherine Tai warned it would take time to reach an agreement on the matter but said: “extraordinary times calls for extraordinary measures.”
A hundred members of the World Trade Organization (WHO) are said to be in agreement on the matter and a panel on intellectual property is expected to discuss the issue next month.
Intellectual property means creations, such as inventions, which are protected by patents, copyrights, and trademarks allowing the originator to be financially rewarded.
India and South Africa were the leading voices in a group of about sixty states which for the last six months has been trying to get the patents on vaccines set aside.
However, the idea was met with strong opposition from the previous US administration of Donald Trump, the UK, and the EU.
But the current US President Joe Biden took a different tack after he backed the waiver on intellectual property on Wednesday saying it will boost the fight against Covid-19.
