Faced with the Covid-19 epidemic, Pope Francis is opting for great means.
This Saturday, the Sovereign Pontiff on Saturday supported the proposal to lift patents on vaccines, an idea that is advancing around the world but to which pharmaceutical companies are opposed.
In a video message to the "Vax Live" concert, Pope Francis condemned "the narrow nationalism which prevents, for example, the internationalization of vaccines", and referred to "a spirit of justice which mobilizes us to ensure universal access vaccines and the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights ”.
EU ready to debate "concrete proposals"
This Saturday, the European Union said it was ready to discuss a lifting of patents on vaccines against Covid-19, envisaged by the American administration, if “concrete proposals” are put forward.
"On the issue of intellectual property, we do not think that, in the short term, this could be a magic solution, but we think that we must be ready to discuss this subject as soon as concrete proposals are made. on the table ”, declared the President of the Council Charles Michel in Porto (Portugal), before the opening of an informal European summit.
European leaders expressed their skepticism on Friday at the American proposal which aims to accelerate the dissemination of vaccines around the world, by allowing all countries to access manufacturing secrets.
The EU believes that producing and exporting vaccines from existing factories is the best way to meet global demand quickly.
It claims to be the only democracy to export vaccines on a massive scale.
Read also Covid-19: the lifting of patents on vaccines, miracle solution or mirage?
Europeans suspect that the lifting of patents put forward by the Biden administration, and which pharmaceutical companies are fiercely opposed to, is a publicity stunt.