The global economy is based on reducing the spread of vaccines: US trade chief Business and Economic News

Many in the U.S. president’s party want the waiver of vaccine intellectual property protection to allow copying.

Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative, said the need for vaccines to be available worldwide is needed to end the coronavirus pandemic and boost economic recovery.

Speaking at a Council of America conference on Tuesday, Tai said the world has made real strides in ending the pandemic, but there is still a lot of work ahead of it.

“This means that the vaccine is very useful and addresses the inequality in the world of vaccination,” he said. “This is not just a public health requirement. Our economic recovery depends on that. “

Tai will discuss the demands of developing countries during a meeting at the World Council this week to consider requests for waivers of intellectual property rights over World Trade Organization (WTO) coronavirus vaccines.

It has met with senior executives of major vaccine manufacturers in recent days to discuss the proposed waiver and ways to boost vaccine production and distribution.

Wider distribution

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said on Sunday that Tai would “start discussions on how to distribute this vaccine, which is more licensed and can be shared more and more widely,” and added more details in the coming days.

Most Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and many Liberal Democrat senators have called on President Joe Biden’s administration to approve the waiver of vaccine intellectual property, arguing that it would help save lives and prioritize people over the profits of drug companies.

The pharmaceutical industry sees the proposed waiver as very broad and would set a precedent that would erode incentives for the development of future vaccines.

Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer, head of the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, told reporters that Tai and other U.S. officials are trying to develop a forward-looking path and could help calm the industry by tightening the scope of the proposed exemption.

Representative Rosa DeLauro told reporters on Wednesday that she had spoken with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and seen “some positive signs” that the Biden administration was committed to helping other countries in the current humanitarian crisis.

A dozen Republicans in the House of Representatives wrote to Tai on Tuesday to demand that he continue to oppose the waiver of intellectual property rights, arguing that it would not sensibly improve the availability of the vaccine.

“The scope of the requested waiver is wide and does not justify the economic harm it would cause and the insignificant benefits that this would entail,” the members wrote, addressed by the House Judiciary Committee of Republican General Darrell Issa.