Status: 07/13/2021 8:58 p.m.
The USA, as well as many poorer countries, are campaigning for patent protection for corona vaccines to be relaxed. While Chancellor Merkel rejects the matter, her Foreign Minister proposes a different tone.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has been open to talks about softening the patent protection for corona vaccines. “This is a discussion that we are having and that we do not want to refuse,” said the SPD politician during a visit to a production facility of the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
In the short term, however, he sees no possibility of a suspension, which is why the priority at the moment is improving supply chains and building production facilities in poorer countries, said Maas. “You have to do both, you can do it in parallel.”
Merkel will meet US President Biden on Thursday
Poorer countries, but also the USA, have been campaigning for a suspension of patent protection for vaccines for some time in order to accelerate the global vaccination campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel has so far clearly rejected this. It is not the first time that Maas has taken a different note. The Chancellor will meet with US President Joe Biden in the White House on Thursday. This topic could also play a role in this.
Maas began a three-day visit to the USA in Michigan. In Kalamazoo he visited the largest pharmaceutical production facility in the USA, which also produces corona vaccines. Pfizer is working together with the German company BioNTech.
Even before his departure, the Foreign Minister emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the distribution of vaccines. “Without global solidarity in vaccine distribution, Delta will not be the last variant we have to defeat,” he said.