EU passes the buck to US on vaccine patents

PORTO: Europe on Saturday passed the ball back to the US in a debate over Covid vaccine patents, pushing the US for a concrete proposal and a commitment to export jabs.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking after a summit of EU and Indian leaders, said the EU had exported much of its own production and that America should follow suit.

“Now that a further part of the American population has been vaccinated, I hope that we can come to a free exchange of components and an opening of the market for vaccines,” she said.

European Council chief Charles Michel said the bloc was ready to discuss a US offer to suspend patent protection on vaccines - once the details are clear.

“We are ready to engage on this topic, as soon as a concrete proposal would be put on the table,” Michel said at an EU summit in Portugal.

He added that the EU had doubts about the idea being a “magic bullet” in the short term and encouraged “all the partners to facilitate the export of doses”.

France’s scepticism was plain, with President Emmanuel Macron declaring “patents are not the priority”.

A debate on the issue could be “a very good idea,” Macron suggested, but he added: “I call very clearly on the United States to put an end to export bans not only on vaccines but on vaccine ingredients, which prevent production. “The key to producing vaccines more quickly for poor countries and developing countries is to produce more, to lift export bans.” Influential voices support the push to waive patents, not least that of Pope Francis, who criticised putting “the laws of the market or intellectual property above the laws of love and the health of humanity”.

The World Health Organization, India and South Africa have all called for patents to be temporarily suspended.