<Anchor>
Countries around the world have expressed support for the US's IPR exemption initiative for the Corona 19 vaccine. However, pharmaceutical companies are protesting that it is a wrong decision, so it will take a considerable amount of time before the IPR exemption is actually implemented.
This is correspondent Kim Yun-soo in Washington
<Reporter> When the
US position of exemption from intellectual property rights for the Corona 19 vaccine came out, countries around the world immediately welcomed.
French President Macron said he was totally in favor, and Russian President Putin, who owns the vaccines developed in-house, ordered to go one step further and consider exempting Russian vaccines from IPRs.
There is an expectation that the exemption from IPRs will be a stepping stone to solve the global vaccine supply shortage.
[Mercy/U.S. Public Health Director: This is a statement that puts people more important than patents. To play a role as a world leader and to help produce what the world wants in an unprecedented crisis.]
However, in order for the vaccine IP waiver to be implemented, the consent of all 164 member states of the WTO is required.
In addition, even if the intellectual property rights are exempted, technology transfer is necessary for vaccine production, and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Associations, to which Pfizer and others belong, launched a collective backlash, saying that the decision of the US administration was the wrong answer.
[Thurech/Bioentech Chief Scientific Officer: There are 50,000 steps in our vaccine process, and all processes must be performed accurately for efficient and safe vaccine production.]
It is pointed out that additional measures, such as establishing a vaccine hub, must be followed in order to prevent the vaccine IPR exemption from being limited to verbal immunity in a situation where the day is urgent.