“每周都有1000到2000剂新冠疫苗被浪费……”

当地时间5日，美国拜登政府宣布，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。

点击图片阅读此前报道：《美国政府支持放弃新冠疫苗专利》↑

曾经反对放弃新冠疫苗专利的美国，突然改口支持，这不仅激怒了欧美各大制药公司，还令欧盟内部出现分歧：法国对此表示欢迎，德国则批评此举不利于知识产权保护，会对疫苗生产产生“严重影响”。

Germany on Thursday rejected a U.S. backing of a proposal to waive patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines, saying the greatest constraints on production were not intellectual property but vaccines' production capacity and their quality.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday voiced support for a waiver in a sharp reversal of the U.S. position, and his top trade negotiator, Katherine Tai, swiftly backed the proposal by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

德国一名政府发言人表示——

“美国关于放弃新冠疫苗专利保护的建议，将会对整个疫苗生产产生严重影响。疫苗生产的限制因素是生产能力和高质量标准，而不是专利。”

该发言人表示，疫苗生产公司目前已经在与各方合作以提高生产能力，并强调“知识产权保护是创新的源泉”。

The German government stood behind the goal of a worldwide supply of COVID-19 vaccines, a government spokeswoman said, adding however that the main factors in vaccine production are capacity and quality standards, and not patents.

"The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future," the spokeswoman said in a statement.

与辉瑞联合开发新冠疫苗的德国BioNTech公司表示，新冠疫苗专利并非疫苗供应的限制性因素，就中期而言，豁免疫苗专利不会推动全球供应的增加。

英国《卫报》报道称，这是自拜登就任美国总统以来德国和美国之间的“首次重大分歧”。此次分歧可能导致世贸组织的疫苗专利豁免谈判陷入僵局，并使七国集团（G7）内部关系恶化。

"The disagreement is the first major rift between the two economic powers since Joe Biden took office," The Guardian reported, adding it could threaten to deadlock discussions at the WTO and sour relations within the G7 group of major industrialized nations.

当地时间6日，欧盟委员会主席冯德莱恩表示，欧盟愿意就放弃新冠疫苗知识产权保护的提案进行讨论。

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 威斯康星卫生官员：每周浪费1000到2000剂疫苗  

而就在美国政府表示支持放弃新冠疫苗专利之际，美国国内浪费疫苗一事却被曝光。

据报道，随着美国国内疫苗接种需求的下降，浪费新冠疫苗的现象不断加剧。

威斯康星州卫生官员朱莉·威廉姆斯·范·迪克表示，该州刚开始推广疫苗接种时，每周约有数百剂疫苗被丢弃；而现在，每周都有1000到2000剂疫苗被浪费。

朱莉说，民众接种疫苗的需求放缓是疫苗浪费的一个因素，而更多的问题出现在疫苗储存和不合理的管理上。3月数据显示，美国政府从多家企业抢购的新冠疫苗总数超8亿支，足以供超过4亿人接种，而美国人口约为3.3亿人，这意味着最终或将有大量疫苗被闲置浪费。

此前，美国政府也因囤积新冠疫苗、限制出口疫苗原材料等做法遭致国际舆论批评。迫于压力，美国政府近期承诺解除疫苗原材料出口限制，并表示将与其他国家“分享”6000万剂阿斯利康新冠疫苗。

After months of a steady climb in coronavirus vaccinations, the supply of vaccine doses in the U.S. is outpacing demand.

In Wisconsin alone, the demand for vaccines has dropped off so sharply that 1,000 to 2,000 doses are being wasted per week, according to Julie Willems Van Dijk, Deputy Secretary at Wisconsin Department of Health Services. There have been other examples where thousands of doses were wasted in Tennessee, Florida, Ohio and other states.

据世界卫生组织统计，截至4月底全球已接种超过10亿剂新冠疫苗，但低收入国家民众接种剂数仅占其中的0.3%。

The World Health Organization said in April that of one billion vaccines administered around the world, only 0.3% had been in low-income countries. 

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