New Delhi: India on Thursday welcomed the decision of the United States to waive the patent protection rules on Covid vaccines that were proposed by India.
Confirming the development, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, said, "We welcome the statement of the US government of 5th May announcing their support for this initiative. We are hopeful that with a consensus-based approach, the waiver can be approved quickly at the World Trade Organization (WTO)".
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The waiver is an important step for enabling rapid scaling up of manufacture and timely availability of affordable Covid -19 vaccines and essential medical products, he added.
This comes after the Joe-Biden-led administration in America on Wednesday announced to support the waiving of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on vaccines.
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The announcement to approve the waiving of patent protection rules on covid vaccines was made by the US's trade representative Katherine Tai, adding that the US fully understands and respects Intellectual Property protection but, given the pandemic, supports the waiving of the patent protection rules for COVID-19 vaccines.
The decision has been taken amid the second wave of the covid-19 havoc that continues to ravage India.
The Ministry of External Affairs further said that in line with the global health crisis and the need to combat the Covid 19 pandemic, India and South Africa had proposed in WTO on 2nd Oct 2020 a relaxation in the norms of the agreement on TRIPS, to ensure quick and affordable access to vaccines and medicines for developing countries.
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As a result of proactive outreach by India and other like-minded countries, the proposal has received the support of more than 120 countries so far.
It is worth noting that during his recent phone call on 26 April this year with US President Biden, Prime Minister Modi informed the POTUS about India’s initiative at the WTO, which was aimed at benefiting humanity.
