WTO debating on anti-Covid jab IPR

Two-day meeting of special panel taking up revised proposal from India, S Africa for temporary waiver

GENEVA/BEIJING: Envoys from World Trade Organization (WTO) member nations are taking up a proposal to ease patents and other intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines to help developing countries fight the pandemic, an idea backed by the Biden administration but opposed in other wealthy countries with strong pharma industries.

On the table for a two-day meeting of a WTO panel opening on Tuesday is a revised proposal presented by India and South Africa for a temporary IPR waiver on Covid-19 vaccines. The idea has drawn support from over 60 countries, which now include the US and China. Insiders cautioned that a breakthrough wasn’t expected.

Blinken spells out targets for distribution of jabs

With the US sending millions of its Covid-19 vaccines to several countries, including India, secretary of state Antony Blinken said there is a need to increase production capacity on a regional basis across the globe.

Testifying before the House foreign affairs committee on the state department’s 2022 budgetary proposals, Blinken said it is important to have three-fourths of the world vaccinated soon.

The US, he said, has 80 million vaccines that will be distributed. “We want to make sure that anything we send out is safe and effective. It’s starting now and it’s going to be rolled out over the coming days and weeks between now and the end of July,” Blinken said.

1 million Europeans have EU Covid certificates

More than one million Europeans have received the new EU Covid-19 health certificate being rolled out to unlock travel within the bloc, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders announced the figure to the European Parliament ahead of an upcoming vote to enshrine the document in law for the continent’s summer tourism season.

US CDC eases travel rules regarding 61 countries

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has decided to ease its travel recommendations for 61 countries, including Japan, from its highest “Level 4” rating that had discouraged all travel, to recommending travel for those who are fully vaccinated against the deadly disease, the agency confirmed on Tuesday.