RIO DE JANEIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th May, 2021) The Brazilian government has welcomed the United States' readiness to support talks on suspending patents for coronavirus vaccines in a bid to inoculate as many people as possible at the earliest.
The administration of US President Joe Biden expressed earlier in the week its support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines and pledged to negotiate the issue within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. A number of countries have since backed the idea.
"The Brazilian government welcomes the readiness of the US for talks within WTO on a multilateral decision that will contribute to the fight against COVID-19, readiness to step up efforts ... to increase the production and distribution of materials and vaccines worldwide," Brazil's foreign, health, and economy ministries said in a joint statement late on Friday.
The Brazilian government has also recalled the need for cooperation between nations possessing vaccine production technologies and developing countries that have industrial facilities suitable for vaccine production.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday at the EU Social Summit in Porto that the patent waiver would not boost vaccine production in the short- and medium term. According von der Leyen, the more effective approach would be to step up vaccine sharing, increase vaccine exports and invest in increasing the capacity to manufacture the drugs globally.
