US to launch talks with WTO on Covid-19 vaccine distribution
- The US has been accused of focusing first on vaccinating Americans, particularly as its vaccine supply begins to outpace demand
- US trade representative Katherine Tai will be starting talks with the WTO on how to get vaccine more widely distributed worldwide
The White House has been under pressure from politicians at home and governments abroad to join an effort to waive patent rules for the vaccines so that poorer countries can begin to produce their own generic versions of the shots to vaccinate their populations.
The US has been accused of focusing first on vaccinating Americans, particularly as its vaccine supply begins to outpace demand and doses approved for use elsewhere in the world but not in the US sit idle.
US trade representative Katherine Tai will be starting talks with the trade organisation “on how we can get this vaccine more widely distributed, more widely licensed, more widely shared,” said White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
Klain and national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration will have more to say on the matter in the coming days.
