S. Africa welcomes U.S support for patent waiver on covid-19 vaccines

Relief for campaigners as the United States endorses a temporary and targeted waiver of intellectual property protections to Covid-19 vaccines.

A campaign to lift patent protections on coronavirus vaccines is picking up steam.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomes the support of the United States’ administration.

"And now we welcome the statement by the United States administration that it will support the TRIPS waiver on intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines. Now this is a victory for South Africa. It goes to show the influence we have as a country, working together with others, that our voice and messages have weight", he said.

Already, France, Germany and the European Union leadership have said that they are ready to discuss a proposal by US President Joe Biden.

The Africa Union's health watchdog Dr. John Nkengasong praises US support for a waiver on patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines.

"This development will continue to build the momentum necessary to enable us to achieve that goal. It is a step in the right direction, and we believe that when the history of this pandemic is written, history will remember the move taken by the US government as doing the right thing at the right time to fight a terrible challenge which is unprecedented in our own contemporary history", the Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Nations are ramping up efforts to provide jabs to their populations.

Lifting patent protections on the vaccines will further help boost production and provide jabs in to people's arms.

Globally, 155 million cases of the virus have been confirmed. 3.24 million have died of the disease and 91.3 million people have recovered.