Members of the European Parliament adopted on Thursday a resolution demanding temporary lifting of intellectual property rights protection for coronavirus vaccines in order to speed up vaccinations worldwide
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) Members of the European Parliament adopted on Thursday a resolution demanding temporary lifting of intellectual property rights protection for coronavirus vaccines in order to speed up vaccinations worldwide.
"To accelerate global vaccine rollout, MEPs [members of the European Parliament] demand the temporary lifting of intellectual property rights protection for COVID-19 vaccines. In a resolution adopted with 355 votes in favour, 263 against and 71 abstentions, Parliament proposes negotiations start for a temporary waiver of the WTO TRIPS [the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights] on patents to improve global access to affordable COVID-19-related medical products and to address global production constraints and supply shortages," the European Parliament said in a press release.
According to the lawmakers, voluntary licensing and technology transfer are the key way to scale and speed up global production of vaccines.
