美国政府支持放弃新冠疫苗专利

当地时间5日，美国政府宣布支持放弃对新冠疫苗的知识产权保护，以扩大全球范围内的疫苗接种。

U.S. President Joe Biden plans to back a World Trade Organization waiver for vaccine intellectual property (IP) to help countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Wednesday. 

美国贸易代表戴琦（Katherine Tai）在一份声明中写道——

“这是一场全球卫生危机，应对这一特殊情况需要采取非常措施。政府深信知识产权保护的作用，但为了结束这场疫情，我们支持放弃对新冠疫苗的这些保护。”

戴琦在声明中说，政府此举是为了尽快普及安全有效的疫苗，结束新冠肺炎疫情。她同时表示，美国政府将继续加强与私营部门和所有可能伙伴的合作，扩大疫苗的制造和分销，并努力增加生产这些疫苗所需的原材料。

"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," Tai said in a statement. 

消息一出，美国多支疫苗概念股下跌：Moderna一度重挫近10%，最终收跌6.19%；Novavax收跌4.9%。

Shares in vaccine makers Moderna and Novavax dropped several percent in regular trade, although Pfizer stock fell only slightly.

美国制药商曾就此事进行过激烈的内部辩论，反对政府放弃新冠疫苗专利。

去年10月，印度和南非曾提议暂免新冠医药品专利，大部分发展中国家表示支持，但欧美纷纷反对或持质疑态度。当时，美国白宫官员和制药公司称，这会扰乱生产并伤害美国利益。

Pharmaceutical companies working on vaccines have reported sharp revenue and profit gains during the crisis. The industry's biggest lobby group warned that Biden's unprecedented step would undermine the companies' response to the pandemic and compromise safety.

本月3日，世卫组织总干事谭德塞（Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus）和英国前首相戈登·布朗（Gordon Brown）共同呼吁暂时豁免新冠疫苗知识产权。谭德塞表示，如果要为大多数成年人接种疫苗以实现群体免疫，需要的疫苗将大大超过现有数量；为提高疫苗产量，暂时豁免疫苗知识产权非常重要，这并不是一个“慈善问题”。

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday urged for IP waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, as infection rates are on the rise and many countries face the "acute problem" of vaccine shortage.

"If we're going to vaccinate majority of the adults to bring herd immunity, then the amount of vaccine we need will be significantly more than what we have now," said Tedros during a WHO press conference on Monday.

"The production capacity should increase. And that's why the intellectual property waiver will be very important," he noted, adding that it wasn't "a charity issue."

分析指出，此次美国政府的最新表态，标志着拜登政府在全球疫苗合作上的重要一步。美国此举，或意味着已获得授权的辉瑞、Moderna等疫苗技术，将可以临时被全球其他国家使用、自行制造疫苗，从而缩小富国和穷国之间的疫苗接种差距。

不过，也有人指出，疫苗专利和其他保护措施，并非中低收入国家生产更多疫苗的主要障碍。一些公共卫生专家表示，知识产权规则只是全球疫苗生产的瓶颈之一，如何帮助发展中国家提高生产能力、将相关专利技术转化成疫苗制造新增产能同样面临挑战。

而在拜登政府表态之际，数十个中低收入国家的新冠感染率、死亡人数飙升，疫苗供应远远满足不了需求。

印度是目前的全球疫情中心，过去一周，该国每天新增新冠确诊病例超30万例，单日死亡人数超3000人。尽管如此，专家们仍认为，实际感染人数、死亡人数可能更高。

几个月来，传染病专家一直警告称，病毒在任何国家无限制地传播和变异都会对全世界构成威胁，因为出现的变种可能会对现有疫苗产生抗药性。这种威胁，加上对人类生命的根本关切，促使越来越多的人支持放弃对新冠疫苗和治疗方法的知识产权保护。

据法新社报道，截至4月底，全球新冠疫苗接种剂数已超10亿，其中美国、中国和印度新冠疫苗接种的速度最快，三个国家接种剂数占全球总数的58%。

Financial service company Robert W. Baird analyst Brian Skorney said he believed the waiver discussion amounted to grandstanding by the Biden administration and would not kick off a major change in patent law.

Biden has come under intensifying pressure to share U.S. vaccine supply and technology to fight the virus around the globe.

His decision comes amid a devastating outbreak in India, which accounted for 46 percent of the new COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide last week, and signs that the outbreak is spreading to Nepal, Sri Lanka and other neighbors.

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