You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Rejects Patent Waiver for COVID-19 Vaccines

HeadlineMay 07, 2021

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she opposes a push at the World Trade Organization to waive patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines. Since the WTO operates by consensus, Germany’s opposition could derail efforts to transfer vaccine technology to factories in places like India and Brazil. Over 100 nations, led by South Africa and India, say the move is desperately needed to increase the availability of vaccines in the Global South. They were given a boost Wednesday when the Biden administration said it would no longer oppose a waiver. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday joined the call to waive patent rights on COVID vaccines, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc was open to debate on the issue.

Ursula von der Leyen: “The European Union is also ready to discuss any proposal that address the crisis in an effective and pragmatic manner. And that’s why we are ready to discuss how the U.S. proposal for waiver on intellectual property protection for COVID vaccines could help achieve that objective.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top