Moscow, Jun 10 (Sputnik): Members of the European Parliament adopted on Thursday a resolution demanding temporary lifting of intellectual property rights protection for coronavirus vaccines to speed up vaccinations worldwide.
“To accelerate global vaccine rollout, MEPs (members of the European Parliament) demand the temporary lifting of intellectual property rights protection for Covid-19 vaccines. In a resolution adopted with 355 votes in favour, 263 against and 71 abstentions, Parliament proposes negotiations start for a temporary waiver of the WTO TRIPS (the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) on patents to improve global access to affordable Covid-19-related medical products and to address global production constraints and supply shortages,” the European Parliament said in a press release.
According to the lawmakers, voluntary licensing and technology transfer are the key way to scale and speed up global production of vaccines.
