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The issue of patent protection for Covid-19 vaccines came on the agenda of the meeting after the United States changed its position this week and proposed to suspend the protection of these patents.
While several EU countries expressed support for the idea, others doubted that it would solve the problem of vaccine shortages in the short to medium term.
“The first issue in vaccine solidarity is the distribution of doses,” said the French president Emanuels makrons before going to talks with colleagues. He added that “100 percent” of the US-produced Covid-19 vaccine remained in the country.
Macron said the issue of technology transfer needed for vaccine production is more relevant than the abolition of vaccine patent protection.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, agreed with this assessment, stressing that technology transfer and the promotion of production worldwide are paramount.
He generally welcomed Washington’s statement, but said the suspension of patents alone was “insufficient.”
India and South Africa proposed a temporary suspension of intellectual property rights for Covid-19-related medical technology in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in October, but the West welcomed the proposal.
Abolishing patent protection would allow poorer countries to produce medicines that are usually developed in richer countries, but it would take several months to increase production.
The EU, represented by the WTO as a single bloc European commision (EC), we must now try to agree on a common position.
EK prezidente Urzula fon of the Leiena has indicated the readiness of the bloc to discuss this idea, but has not expressed support for it.
Italy and Poland have expressed support for the US proposal, but the EU has a heavy political weight Germany has strongly opposed it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkele He expressed concern about the suspension of patent rights and said that technologically advanced China could benefit more from vaccine knowledge than developing countries.
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