EU leaders urge Biden to export vaccines now and worry about patents later

European Union leaders urged U.S. President Joe Biden to lift restrictions on exports of COVID-19 vaccines to address the desperate needs of developing countries.

European Union leaders urged US President Joe Biden to lift restrictions on exports of Covid-19 vaccines to address the desperate needs of developing countries before embarking on complex discussions about whether patent waivers might also boost supply in the longer term. Gathering in Portugal shortly after the US suggested suspending intellectual property rights to boost the supply of Covid shots, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Mario Draghi appealed in unison to the US president to follow the EU example and start shipping significant numbers of vaccines. They argued that any patent waiver will only increase supply in the long term and the world needs a faster solution. Read here

urged U.S. President …