In the face of mounting international pressure, the Biden administration on Wednesday announced support for waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines—which campaigners welcomed as “a transformative, hopeful event” that has the potential to save lives around the world, especially in the Global South.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the move as activists gathered in Washington, D.C. for a Rally for a People’s Vaccine urging President Joe Biden to back a Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO) proposed by the India and South Africa.
“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” Tai said in a statement. “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.”
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