The Biden administration is facing growing pressure to help lower-income countries access much-needed coronavirus strokes.
The top U.S. trade representative will begin discussions with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on how to distribute COVID-19 vaccines more widely, as a country. faces increasing pressure to help other nations get much needed blows.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said Sunday that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai would hold talks with the WTO “on how we can get this vaccine to be more widely distributed, licensed and expanded. “.
“We’ll have more to say about this in the coming days,” Klain said in an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation program.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has faced calls to relinquish the intellectual property rights over coronavirus vaccines so necessary to allow more countries to manufacture doses.
The United States, which has the most coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, has accelerated vaccinations of its own population this year, with nearly 56% of adults receiving at least one punch to date. seconds to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
But many other countries have not been able to quickly inoculate their populations amid a global shortage of vaccine supplies and other challenges, and public health experts say the U.S. should do more to promote global vaccine equity.
Last month, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical charity urged rich nations to stop blocking patent exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines to help lower-income countries achieve doses.
The US said yes last week considering your options maximize global vaccine production and supply at the lowest cost, including support for a proposal to waive intellectual property rights, but no decision had been taken.
Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the administration believes pharmaceutical companies “should supply at scale and cost worldwide so that there are no barriers for everyone to get vaccinated.”
Tai’s office did not respond to any email requests from The Associated Press news agency.
Also on Sunday, U.S. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders said that while the United States must ensure that all citizens are vaccinated as soon as possible, it also has a “moral obligation” to ensure that others countries also have access to laundry.
“I think what we have to say right now to pharmaceutical companies, when there are millions of lives at stake around the world, yes, allow other countries to have these intellectual property rights so that they can produce the vaccines they desperately need. in poor countries, “Sanders said in a statement interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press program.
“There is something morally unpleasant about rich countries being able to get this vaccine, and yet millions and billions of people in poor countries can’t afford it.”
