- COVID-19 vaccine developers are trading lower after U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced support for a waiver of intellectual-property protections for Covid-19 vaccines, Bloomberg reports.
- “We are for the waiver at the WTO, we are for what the proponents of the waiver are trying to accomplish, which is better access, more manufacturing capability, more shots in arms,” Tai has said in an interview on Wednesday.
- At the World Trade Organization, the Biden administration will engage in negotiations for the text of the waiver and push for support from other countries, Tai said.
- Regarding the timeline of an outcome, “I am the first one to admit that what we are leaning into is a process that is not going to be easy,” Tai said noting that WTO is a member-driven organization that takes decisions based on consensus.
- In an effort to contain the rising number of COVID-19 infections, the countries such as India and South Africa have been urging the WTO members to temporarily suspend the rules on IP rights.
- Related tickers: Pfizer (PFE -0.3%), BioNTech (BNTX -0.5%). Novavax (NVAX -4.6%), Moderna (MRNA -5.5%) AstraZeneca (AZN +1.0%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -0.3%)