The intellectual property rights waiver is seen as crucial to enhance India's vaccine production capacity amid a deteriorating COVID-19 situation in the country.
“United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai met virtually yesterday with Bill Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss increasing vaccine production, global health issues and the proposed waiver to certain provisions of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the COVID-19 pandemic,” the release said.
Tai also underscored her commitment to a coordinated global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.
In October 2020, India and South Africa asked the members of the WTO to waive protections in WTO rules for patents, copyrights, industrial designs, and undisclosed information related to COVID-19 treatment, including vaccines, until widespread vaccination is in place globally.