The United States supports waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Wednesday.
“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraodinary measures,” the statement posted to Twitter reads. “The administration strongly believes in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protectiosn for COVID-19 vaccines.”
Tai said the administration will “actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) needed to make that happen.”
-More to come…
-With files from Global News’ Hannah Jackson
© 2021 Reuters
