Several EU leaders approved the US call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help developing countries obtain shots. But the proposal faced resistance, notably from Germany.
The EU is “ready to discuss” lifting intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines, Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
More than 100 nations have been struggling for the IP rights on coronavirus vaccines and treatments to be waived in order to speed up the production of jabs.
The US on Wednesday said it was supporting the ideas for what is essentially a patent waiver between World Trade Organization (WTO) talks on the issue.
European Commission president von der Leyen said the bloc would discuss “any plan that would take the crisis efficiently and pragmatically”.
“I completely support this break up of the intellectual property,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
However, like many pharmaceutical companies, Macron said that a waiver would not solve access to vaccines. He said manufacturers in places like Africa are not now equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines, so contributions of shots from more affluent countries should be given preference instead.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook that the US announcement was “a significant sign” and that the world needs “free access” to vaccine patents. But Italian Premier Mario Draghi was more circumspect.
‘Source of innovation’
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office spoke out against it, saying: “The protection of the intellectual property is a source of change and must remain so in the future.”
A Merkel spokeswoman, speaking on common anonymity, said Germany is focused instead on increasing vaccine manufacturers’ production capacity.
During WTO talks, the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the Biden administration “believes heavily in mental property protections, but in service of doing this pandemic, encourages the abandonment of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines”.
The temporary restriction on IP rights would allow more companies to manufacture the vaccines.