US Support For Patents Waiver On Vaccines Significant Step: Envoy

US Charge D'Affaires Daniel Smith also described as a significant step the Biden administration's decision to extend support to the proposal by India and South Africa on the patents waiver.

The US is ramping up efforts in partnership with India and other countries to increase the availability of COVID-19 vaccines without waiting for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to arrive at a consensus-based decision on a proposal for patents waiver on the vaccines, a senior American diplomat said on Tuesday. US Charge D'Affaires Daniel Smith also described as a significant step the Biden administration's decision to extend support to the proposal by India and South Africa on the patents waiver. "I do want to stress that this was a significant step on the part of the Biden administration to take this and extend the support to the initiative India and South Africa had put forward to waive intellectual property restrictions when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines," he said. "We are just not waiting for that to take place. What we are also doing is ramping up all of our efforts across the board in partnership with India, in partnership with other countries to increase production of COVID-19 vaccines and increase their availability," Smith said at an online media briefing.