Support the scrapping of patents to avoid undermining vaccination drive, UK government told

The government must support a patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to protect the UK’s own vaccination program, according to public health experts from the Independent SAGE group.

With more virulent strains spreading across the world while billions of people go unvaccinated, the risk of variants resistant to current vaccines emerges, so Independent SAGE wants the UK government to support a waiver of the global agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization.

"The US government is reconsidering its opposition – and so must the UK"This has been proposed by India and South Africa and supported by more than 100 countries, but the UK is one of a small number of nations blocking the move.