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The

European Parliament

(

EP

) expressed his support for the celebration on Thursday

World Organization of Trade

of negotiations with a

view to temporarily suspend patents on

vaccines

against the

coronavirus

, so that they reach middle -

income and low where a small percentage of the population has agreed to immunization.

Specifically, the non-legislative resolution calls for support for "proactive, constructive and text-based" negotiations towards a temporary suspension of the agreement that governs intellectual property rights in the

World Trade Organization

to expand global access to vaccines. .

The claim is included in an amendment promoted by the

Greens

and approved by the minimum (325 votes in favor, 324 against) after the negotiations to reach a consensus on the resolution initially left out the explicit support of the

European Parliament

for this claim. The resolution as a whole went ahead with 355 votes in favor, 263 against and 71 abstentions.

The text approved by the EP points out that "exceptional circumstances require exceptional solutions" and calls for priority to be given to "the availability and affordability of health products related to

Covid-19

, to the increase in the production of vaccines against the

Covid-19

and the worldwide geographic distribution of manufacturing capacity. "

"International trade policy must play a driving role in this endeavor, facilitating trade in medical and healthcare raw materials and products, alleviating the shortage of qualified and experienced personnel, solving supply chain problems, and reviewing the global framework for intellectual property rights in the face of future pandemics ", completes the text.

In June 2021, recalls Parliament, some 1.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide, the vast majority in industrialized and vaccine-producing countries, while only 0.3% had been administered in the 29 countries. poorest, where around 9% of the world's population lives.

Before the

WTO

, the

European Commission

has proposed that governments can force pharmaceutical companies to assign their patent for the

Covid-19

vaccine

at an "affordable" price, as a way to accelerate its production and increase its distribution. Brussels, however, rejects the idea of ​​countries like the

United States

,

India

or

South Africa

to completely release the patent, because the pharmaceutical companies would not obtain any type of remuneration and the Commission wants to maintain the necessary levels of protection so that it can continue to innovate against new variants of the virus or future pandemics.

On the other hand, MEPs urge the

United States

and the

United Kingdom

to "immediately abolish" their bans on the export of vaccines and raw materials and consider that, in the long term, technology and knowledge transfers will be key in the race for increasing and accelerating global vaccine production.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Vaccines

  • Coronavirus

  • Covid 19

  • European Union

  • Science and Health

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