U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced on Twitter that the Biden administration supports a COVID-19 vaccine IP waiver.
Stocks of major COVID-19 vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer are down today after U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that the Biden administration supports waiving IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines.
“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” Tai said in the statement.
Tai said the U.S. will actively participate in World Trade Organization text-based negotiations to make the IP protections waiver happen, though she added that such discussions will take time given the complexity of the WTO.
Moderna (Nasdaq:MRNA) shares are down more than –6% to $162.76 apiece, and Pfizer shares are down more than –1% to $39.53 apiece on the news this afternoon.
Even as wealthy countries such as the U.S. and U.K. secure their vaccine supplies, less wealthy countries such as India and Brazil are struggling to keep up as they are swamped by more vaccine-resistant variants of the novel coronavirus. There has recently been a growing call from U.S. politicians and nonprofits for the Biden administration to throw its support behind waiving COVID-19 vaccine IP so that more countries can make vaccine themselves.
Tai also added that with the U.S. vaccine supply secured, the administration will work with the private sector and all possible partners to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution worldwide.