Biden calls for intellectual property waivers on COVID vaccines

US President Joe Biden has called on countries attending a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting next week to waive intellectual property protections on coronavirus vaccines, as international concern is rising over a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa.

In a statement on Friday, Biden said the discovery of the new variant demonstrates that the pandemic will not end until the entire world has equal access to vaccines.

“The news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations,” Biden said. “This news today reiterates the importance of moving on this quickly.”

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