The United States is working to have pharmaceutical companies that have developed a vaccine against the Sars-CoV-2 virus distribute it worldwide at cost price to end the pandemic, it was announced today.
“The bottom line is that we believe that pharmaceutical companies should provide a vaccine at cost to everyone so that there are no barriers to vaccination,” said Jaque Sullivan, National Security Advisor to US President Joe Biden, in an interview with ABC television channel.
The adviser also assured that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is conducting “intensive conversations” with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to overcome the vaccine access issue, and stressed that there will be a “path forward in the coming days.”
Sullivan’s comments come after a group of 10 Democrats, led by the most progressive wing representative, Senator Bernie Sanders, called for pharmaceutical companies to be forced to temporarily surrender patents on the Sars-Cov-2 vaccine so that countries that need them can develop their own vaccines.
The temporary suspension of vaccine patents was proposed by India and South Africa to the WTO, two of the countries suffering most from the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.
“We urge you to support the adoption of this temporary exemption, which will ensure the most effective and efficient response to a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic,” the Democrats’ letter to Joe Biden states.
On the other hand, Sullivan said that Washington is “proud” of what has been done so far to help India, where hundreds of thousands of new infections are reported daily and where hospitals do not have enough supplies and medicines to deal with the disease.
However, Biden’s advisor also stressed that in an emergency of this magnitude one always wishes “we could move faster and do more.”
The adviser reminded that the country has sent “large military aircraft loaded with oxygen, loaded with raw materials for vaccines, loaded with equipment that can help save lives, and reminded that they continue to transport aid” as quickly as possible.
“We are concerned about the variants, the spread, the lives that are lost, and also the side effects that may arise while the pandemic is totally out of control in India,” he concluded.
