EU looking at patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines

The European Union is looking at discussing a US-backed proposal to temporarily waive patents on COVID-19 vaccines to boost production, EU officials said on Thursday.

The comments by two key EU officials came following the Biden administration's announcement that it supports a proposal by India and South Africa before the World Trade Organisation to temporarily waive patents on COVID-19 vaccines.

President of the European Council Charles Michel said the EU is fully committed to tackling all barriers hindering the global fight against the pandemic.

"All countries must allow export & avoid disrupting supply chains. We must develop global production capacity with financial support from the EU for developing partners," he said on Twitter.

He said the EU leaders will tackle the idea of TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver for COVID-19 vaccines at a meeting in Porto in Portugal.

President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc's priority is to ramp up production to achieve global vaccination.

"Our priority is to ramp up production to achieve global vaccination. At the same time we are open to discuss any other effective and pragmatic solution. In this context we are ready to assess how the US proposal could help achieve that objective," she tweeted.

She said the EU has been at the forefront of delivering vaccines to the rest of the world and that 200 million doses were delivered so far.

"In the short run, however, we call upon all vaccine producing countries to allow export immediately and to avoid measures that disrupt the supply chains," she said.

Leyen said the EU stands by India in these difficult times.

"The EU stands by India in these difficult times. EU countries have channelled over 100 million Euro worth of medical equipment & medication to India under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism," she in another tweet.

Asked whether the EU will follow the Biden administration's decision to back TRIPS waiver, EU official sources said the bloc is consistently supporting how to bring the vaccines to the global community as soon as possible.

"We are looking at it carefully," said a source, adding it is important to ensure that vaccine supply chains are not disrupted.

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