The WTO could show “importance” by refusing the vaccine, says a US trade representative Coronavirus pandemic News

For the second day in a row, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai heard criticism from U.S. Republican lawmakers that a waiver of intellectual property rights will provide critical biopharmaceutical technology to China, Russia and other strategic rivals while not increasing vaccine supply.

Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative, said Thursday that the World Trade Organization’s negotiations to renounce the intellectual property of COVID-19 vaccines are likely to make it a major trade body that becomes important to world needs.

Tai, speaking to the House Bays and Means Committee, said he was committed to negotiations that take into account the concerns of all sides, including drug companies.

“The WTO has not been able to move quickly or get a yes, among the 164 members who all have to agree, very often,” Tai said. “This is an opportunity to show the importance of the WTO for humanity.”

For the second day in a row, Tai heard criticism from Republican lawmakers that a waiver of intellectual property rights would provide critical biopharmaceutical technology to China, Russia and other strategic rivals while not increasing the supply of vaccines.

Republican Representative Devin Nunes told Tai that he is concerned that China is one of the only countries that can quickly manufacture messenger RNA vaccines, a technology developed in part with U.S. tax dollars.

“It simply came to our notice then [China] we want to steal this very new technology, mainly because it is linked to Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, ”he said.

Tai said the administration is working to be a leader in the matter, trying to find a solution that will save lives and put the world in faster growth, which will benefit the US.

In India and South Africa, proponents of a much broader original proposal, “they have indicated that they feel very weak because they do not have access to vaccines and cannot do them either,” Tai said.

On Wednesday, Tai said at a Senate hearing that vaccine companies could be “heroes” by giving the world greater access to COVID-19 vaccines.

He declined to discuss details of the consultations with drug companies before announcing the WTO’s decision to join the waiver negotiations last week, but said some are pushing for more than their shareholder obligations.

“Some of them see themselves as important players in the world public health ecosystem,” he said.

Tai said the waiver of intellectual property is one of several actions needed to increase the manufacturing and equitable distribution of vaccines around the world.