Congress heights, Residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., United States

The United States is proving to be a real friend to India as it continues to battle the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.After sending tonnes of medical aid in form of oxygen concentrators, generators, and critical medicine like Remdesivir to Delhi, the US has now decided to back India/South Africa joint proposal for TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO).US trade representative Ambassador Katherine Tai said, "These extraordinary times and circumstances call for extraordinary measures, The US supports the waiver of IP protection on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic and will actively participate in WTO negotiation to make that happen."In October last year, India and South Africa, along with 57 members of WTO proposed a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement for prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19.India believes that intellectual property rights are potentially hindering timely provisioning of vaccine manufacturing and affordable medical products to the patients including vaccines. As things stand, some WTO members have carried out urgent legal amendments to their national patent laws to expedite the process of issuing compulsory/government use licenses.Beyond patents, other intellectual property rights may also pose a barrier, with limited options to overcome those barriers. In addition, many countries especially developing ones may face institutional and legal difficulties when using flexibilities available in the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).After the announcement made on Wednesday, US support will give a fillip to achieve TRIPS waiver at WTO and will unblock various impediments in ramping up the production of vaccines. However, this is a time-consuming process and the case will go to the General Council.Earlier, the US had relented after continuous pressure from developing countries led by India and South Africa, also the Biden administration witnessed domestic pressure as more than 100 lawmakers urged the US President to support the waiver.Amid the acute shortage of vaccines, India has announced its phase three vaccination drive which entitles every citizen above 18 to get a jab.India as if now have two major vaccine developers Serum institute and Bharat biotech, Russian vaccine Sputnik has also entered but they will only be able to scale up production by later this year. It will now be counting on more global manufacturers to fulfill the requirement and US support to waiver is certainly a piece of welcome news for India.( With inputs from ANI )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Congress HeightsFOLLOW

Congress heights, Latest News

Pharma major Lupin Ltd on Thursday reported 18 per cent jump in its consolidated profit after tax to Rs 460 crore. ...

The US Department of State on Wednesday (local time) sanctioned a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official over human rights violations, including the arbitrary detention of a Falun Gong practitioners. ...

Equity benchmark indices ended nearly one per cent lower on Wednesday tracking weak trends in Asian markets amid inflation fears globally. ...

Equity benchmark indices traded substantially lower during early hours on Wednesday in line with their Asian peers amid inflation fears globally. ...

The United States on Saturday (local time) condemned the attack near a school in Afghanistan capital Kabul, which left 53 people dead and several others injured. ...

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has argued that it was up to the United States to take a step toward compliance with the nuclear deal. ...

The United States, NATO, and European Union on Friday (local time) issued a joint statement that strongly condemned the continued violence in Afghanistan and demanded all parties to take immediate steps for its reduction, and especially to avoid civi ...

The United States is proving to be a real friend to India as it continues to battle the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. ...