EU to discuss US vaccine patent plan in today’s summit

European Union leaders said Thursday that in the wake of the US backing patent waivers for Covid19 vaccine technology the 27nation bloc immediately will start discussing whether they should join such a moveThe leadersrsquo first opportunity to mould a common view will come as soon as a twoday summit in Porto Portugal that starts FridayUrsula von der Leyen EU Commission presidentWhile many insist that waiving patents would only go part way toward making vaccines available and likely in the midterm only French President Emmanuel Macron said he ldquocompletelyrdquo supports opening up intellectual property protections for Covid19 vaccines as ldquoa global public goodrdquoAt the same time Macron insisted that the immediate priority for wealthier countries should be first donating more vaccine doses to poorer countriesThe move to support waiving intellectual property protections on vaccines under World Trade Organisation rules marked a dramatic shift for the United States which had previously lined up with many other developed nations opposed to the idea floated by India and South AfricaWhile the EU did not echo the US position it generally welcomed President Joe Bidenrsquos moveEU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that ldquoWe are ready to discuss how the US proposal for waiver on intellectual property protection for Covid19 vaccines could help end the crisisrdquoVon der Leyen said in a video address Thursday though that other issues should take center stage ldquoIn the short runwe call upon all vaccineproducing countries to allow exports and to avoid measures that disrupt supply chainsrdquo she saidShe was hinting at socalled vaccine nationalism that has limited or made nonexistent any exports from nations including Britain and the United States while the 27nation bloc was allowing the export of millions of doses to countries around the worldMany hope the initiative of the Biden administration will help poorer countries get more doses and speed the end of the pandemicLeft CoPresident Manon Aubry called Bidenrsquos move a gamechanger The European Union is now the last place in the world to protect big pharmarsquos profits over public healthGreens President Ska Keller said Bidenrsquos opening made sure ldquothere can be no more excuses from the European Unionrdquo She called on the EU ldquoto support this historic initiative and make global solidarity a realityrdquoPhilippines to return donated Chinese vaccineAshia Rivers 17 of Maryland gets her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in her family car at Ripken Baseball PicAFPThe president of the Philippines is asking China to take back 1000 doses of donated Sinopharm vaccine after facing criticism for receiving a shot even though it has not yet been authorised for public use in the country The Philippine health secretary injected Duterte with the vaccine Monday An unspecified number of Dutertersquos guards have also been injected with the Sinopharm vaccine in secrecy The president apologized but says his use of the Chinese vaccine was recommended by his doctors and did not breach any regulation because it was covered by a lsquocompassionate usersquo exemption Critics however say Duterte made a mockery of vaccine regulations while ordinary Filipinos have struggled with a plethora of pandemic restrictions685508No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours154640649Total no of cases worldwide3232285Total no of deaths worldwideSource WHOJohns HopkinsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever