EU leaders called on US and UK to export coronavirus vaccines

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, asked this Saturday that US and UK export coronavirus vaccines and help boost global production to facilitate increased inoculations around the world.

The possible lifting of patents on vaccines “is a false debate”, because “the urgency is to produce more and to be more united now” with the poor countriesMacron said in statements upon his arrival at the European Union (EU) social summit held in Porto (Portugal).

The President recalled that the EU exported around half of the vaccines produced on its territory, while the US and UK kept “100% of those produced”.

“The Anglo-Saxons must end export bans“Vaccines,” he said.

He added that another “key” step is increase production, through adaptation of pharmaceutical factories and technology transfer. Macron argues that it is useless to file patents if many countries, for example in Africa, do not have the technical capacity and the specialists to produce them.

The French president added that the third element is increase the dose donation and finally talk about a possible lifting of the patent, but in a “circumscribed” way, only when these rights imply “a blocking”.

He gave as an example the international framework created to promote the production and distribution of AIDS treatments in poor countries.

For her part, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, reiterated this Saturday his opposition to the suspension of vaccine patents against the coronavirus and urged the United States to open the “market” to allow exports of doses and their components.

“Now that a large part of the American population is vaccinated, I wish we could have a free exchange of components and also an opening of the vaccine market.”Merkel said at a press conference, in which she stressed that the European Union exports “a large part” of its vaccine production.

In the same vein as Macron and Merkel, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, assured this Saturday that Coronavirus vaccine patent liberalization is not a “silver bullet” to increase production in the short term and he urged other countries and regions to allow export.

“We don’t think this is a magic bullet in the short term, but we are ready to get involved in this file as soon as a concrete proposal is put on the table. We all agree that we will have to do everything we can to increase vaccine production in all regions of the world, ”said Michel arriving at the second day of the European summit in Porto.

The issue of patent liberalization for COVID-19 vaccines, which the United States now supports, was discussed at a working dinner hosted by EU leaders in the Portuguese city on Friday.

Faced with the United States, which barely exported the vaccines produced on their territory, Michel stressed that the European Union is “the only democracy which exports massive doses of vaccines”.

“We believe that we must encourage all our partners to facilitate exports so that there are as many doses as possible that can be mobilized around the world, ”he said.

He added that in the community club they do progress in the production and distribution of applications, while regarding the vaccination certificate that the EU is preparing, he said that it will be discussed at the summit on May 25 “to ensure that we can encourage all efforts to find a common agreement on this important question”.

On the other hand, he called remain “vigilant” in the face of variants of the coronavirus.

(With information from EFE)

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