CHINA SUPPORTS INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA PLAN FOR IPR WAIVER FOR VACCINES

China extended its support to India and South Africa’s proposal for a temporary waiver of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for Covid-19 vaccines, saying that it is in favour of all efforts for fair vaccine access.

“China fully understands and is supportive of the developing world’s demand for an intellectual property rights waiver for Covid-19 vaccines,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday. “This would be in line with the idea that COVID-19 vaccines are a ‘global public good’, and part and parcel of (China’s) efforts to build a global community of health for all,” the South China Morning Post quoted him as saying.

Earlier this week, US trade Representative Katherine Tai virtually met World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to discuss increasing vaccine production and the TRIPS waiver on Covid-19 vaccines for the pandemic.

According to a readout from her office, Tai had explained the Biden-Harris administration’s support for the waiver of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines and explained that this fits the United States’ comprehensive effort to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution around the world.

The TRIPS waiver aims to increase global vaccine production in order to take on the challenge of vaccinating the poorest of the poor and save lives.