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The Right Coast
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In shock move, US backs waiving patents on COVID vaccines

By Thomas A. Smith

In a historic move, the US government has today announced its support for waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, a measure aimed at boosting supplies so that people around the world can get the shots. The extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures, said US Trade Representative Katherine Tai in a statement.

The move comes on 5 May, the first of a two-day meeting of the general council of the World Trade Organization, based in Geneva. Until now, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan have blocked efforts, brought by India and South Africa, to make it legal for manufactures to produce generic versions of COVID-19 vaccines.

via www.nature.com

Good for this pandemic. Not so good for the next one.