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The EU asks Biden to finalize his proposal to release patents for covid vaccines

2021-05-10T17:51:22.225Z


"We are ready to discuss it", assures the president of the European Council, but demands that the rest of the countries facilitate exports.


Ursula von der Leyen, this Saturday in Porto (Portugal) Luis Vieira / AP

The European Union is willing to pick up the gauntlet of the proposal launched this week by US President Joe Biden to release patents for covid-19 vaccines, but asks Washington to detail exactly how far it intends to go.

"We do not believe that in the short term it is the magic solution, but we are prepared to discuss it when there is a concrete proposal on the table," said the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, after the dinner of the 27 heads of State and Government of the EU held Friday night in Porto.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, reiterated this Saturday, at the end of the European summit in the Portuguese city: “We must be open to the debate on patents and analyze the issue of licenses, but they are topics for the long term".

More information

  • The United States Supports Releasing Patents for Coronavirus Vaccines to Make Their Use Universal

  • What does the suspension of patents on vaccines imply?

    Keys to a historic US movement

The debate on the intellectual property of drugs against the coronavirus has sneaked into the European social summit, which brings together the leaders of the community bloc in person in the Portuguese city (only three have failed, including the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who participates by videoconference). From there, and despite the fact that there are discordant voices, the EU has once again insisted on its position: opening to a possible discussion of the matter, but giving priority to the lifting of other barriers that currently limit vaccines reaching certain corners of the world. planet. In this sense, President Michel on Friday night encouraged all EU partners to "facilitate exports" of drugs so that there are as many as possible for everyone.

In the same vein, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Saturday, demanding that Washington end its current ban on the export of doses and components of vaccines, as a step to facilitate access to the rest of the world and accelerate the production. "I very clearly call on the United States to end export bans," Macron told a news conference. To further refine the shot, and when questioned about the "Biden effect" that seems to drag Europe down, the French president recalled that of the nearly 400 million vaccines manufactured in Community territory, about 200 million have been destined for the export to other countries, especially Japan, United Kingdom and Canada. “When we compare Europeans with British,that they have a much faster rate [of vaccination], it is because [in the EU] we are open and we have not acted like the Americans, who have kept everything they have produced for themselves ”.

A man is vaccinated at Westminster Abbey in London on March 10.

DPA via Europa Press / Europa Press

The vision of Paris is thus synchronized with that of Berlin, from where Merkel already reacted a couple of days ago by flatly rejecting a relaxation of the protection of intellectual property of vaccines, by ensuring that the factors that limit the supply of these drugs are others, such as production capacity and high quality standards, and defend intellectual property as a source of innovation "that should remain in the future."

Germany is the country where the messenger RNA technology of one of the main vaccines against covid-19 was born, the one developed by the BioNTech laboratory in conjunction with the American pharmaceutical multinational Pfizer.

At the social summit in Porto, however, the cracks between different EU capitals have also begun to be seen, and the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has emerged as one of the most prominent voices.

Madrid unambiguously agrees with Biden's patent release proposal, as stated by the Government in an informal document that the Spanish delegation planned to present at the summit.

"Intellectual property cannot be an obstacle to putting an end to covid-19 and guaranteeing equitable and universal access to vaccines," says the text.

More doses

The EU, meanwhile, continues to buy doses. Von der Leyen announced this Saturday that it has closed another contract with Pfizer-BioNTech for the supply of 900 million doses with an option to purchase another 900 million. In total, 1,800 million to be dispatched between 2021 and 2023, in addition to the 2,600 million reserved previously.

The president of the Commission has attributed the need for such a massive purchase to three reasons. “Sooner or later we will have to vaccinate adolescents and children; Booster doses will probably need to be injected when we know the duration of immunity the vaccine gives; and there is the question of the possibility of worrisome variants, "said Von der Leyen. Faced with possible criticism for hoarding a sufficient number of doses to vaccinate the 405 million inhabitants of the EU several times, the president has indicated that "the contracts include the possibility of exporting or donating" the doses that are considered convenient.

Source: elparis

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