The White House is contemplating choices for maximizing world manufacturing and provide of COVID-19 vaccines on the lowest value, together with backing a proposed waiver of mental property rights, however no choice has been made, press secretary Jen Psaki stated on Tuesday.
“There are quite a lot of other ways to try this. Right now, that’s one of many methods, however now we have to evaluate what makes essentially the most sense,” Psaki said, adding that U.S. officials were studying whether it would be more effective to boost existing manufacturing of the vaccines in the United States.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai had not made a recommendation on the issue, and President Joe Biden had not made a decision, she said.
U.S. lawmakers and nonprofit groups are heaping pressure on the Biden administration to back the temporary patent waiver to help poor countries contain the pandemic as India and other countries battle a massive surge in cases.
The United States and several other countries have thus far blocked negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) about a proposal led by India and South Africa that would waive the IP rights of pharmaceutical companies to allow developing countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines.
Proponents are pushing Washington to change course ahead of another WTO meeting on the issue on April 30.
Critics say waiving the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property could reduce the safety of vaccines, and that setting up production in new places would sap resources needed to boost production in existing locations.
Tai discussed the issue on Monday with drugmakers Pfizer and AstraZeneca PLC, noting her interest in a solution that gave developing countries a role in addressing critical gaps in vaccine production and distribution.
U.S. industry executives believe Tai may be leaning toward backing the waiver after she called the gaping divide between developed and developing countries’ access to medicines “completely unacceptable” and stated business wanted to make sacrifices in occasions of disaster.
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