U.S. says it will push COVID vaccine waivers, but 'may take time'

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the Biden administration is committed to efforts to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and will raise the issue with the World Trade Organization (WTO), but it may take time, as reported by the National Post on Thursday.

"We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the WTO that will be needed to make this happen. And this may take time given the complexity of the issues involved, but our goal remains to get vaccines to as many people as fast as possible," Tai said.

Last month, US President Joe Biden backed a proposed patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines that advocates say could help boost availability.

However, the pharmaceutical industry has opposed the waiver, saying it would stifle innovation and do little to effectively increase vaccine supplies that it says are hampered by trade and manufacturing barriers.

Tai, who defended the administration’s support, said "we’re doing everything that we can to ramp up vaccine production capacity as quickly as we can."