EU ready to discuss Covid vaccine patent waiver, says von der Leyen

European Commission president-elect Ursula Von der Leyen

The European Union is willing to discuss a proposal, now backed by the United States, to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday. The head of the EU executive said the bloc's vaccination effort was accelerating, with 30 Europeans inoculated per second, while exporting more than 200 million vaccine doses to the rest of the world. ‘The EU is also ready to discuss any proposals that addresses the crisis in an effective and pragmatic manner,’ von der Leyen said in a speech to the European University Institute in Florence. ‘That's why we are ready to discuss how the US proposal for a waiver on intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines could help achieve that objective.’