The White House will share COVID-19 technology, innovated by the US government, with the WHO in a bid to fight the pandemic abroad.
- The White House plans to share COVID-19-related technological innovations with the WHO in a bid to fight the overseas pandemic.
- The move is expected to be announced by federal health officials on Thursday
- Expanding access to medical technology, especially in the developed world, has been a priority for the WHO in recent months
- The Moderna vaccine will not be included, reports say, although the strike has been sought by many developing nations.
IN the White House plans to share inventions from America COVID-19 technology with World Health Organization (WHO) in an attempt to combat the pandemic around the world.
The Biden administration reportedly plans to announce an initiative to share the US scientific breakthrough with the rest of the world on Thursday.
Technologies developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be licensed to the WHO and the Patent Pool for Medicines – a The united nations medical team – which will allow other countries to have access to and reproduce the findings.
Developing countries that do not have the same opportunities as the United States and other developed nations will benefit most from this agreement. The WHO has long called on richer nations to do more to help their peers, especially in Africa.
The White House is expected to announce Thursday that it will work with the WHO and the United Nations to share US COVID-19 technology with the rest of the world in a bid to fight the global pandemic.
The highly sought-after Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will not be included in the technologies shared by the White House
Exactly what technology will be shared is not yet known, pending a White House announcement.
IN Washington Post announces that the technology developed for the Moderna vaccine, which the NIH is suing the credit company for inventor, will not be included.
Moderna vaccine technology may be the most sought after in the world by developing countries, and its failure to include limits the effectiveness of this plan.
The Cambridge-based company, Massachusetts, has said it will not enforce its patent if a replica is developed.
Although it is still a measure that is far from licensing the drug to be produced generically, this opens the door for foreign scientists to recreate the drug themselves without fear of legal consequences.
Afrigen Biologics, a South African company, even managed to replicate successfully a small dose of the vaccine in a laboratory last month.
However, it may take years for the vaccine clone to become viable in the developing world, so they continue to call on Moderna to make vaccine technology more accessible.
Other vaccines and Covid treatment technologies developed by private companies with the help of the federal government are also not expected to be included, according to the Post.
Experts still hope that this move by the United States can stimulate more cooperation in the fight against the pandemic around the world.
“The US government is setting the tone for the country’s relations with the pharmaceutical industry, as well as this kind of global cooperation,” Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen, told the Post.
“And by taking publicly available inventions and working with the WHO to make them accessible to humanity … it’s a clear and powerful demonstration of what governments can do.”
This move comes as the United States moves to the final stages of the pandemic.
Earlier this week, the White House announced a change in its response to COVID-19.
The plan includes increasing local production of tests, antivirals and masks, expanding access to resources and public health information, helping Americans manage Covid’s “long-term” symptoms.
He also launched the “Test to Treat” program, which should expand access to Covid therapists by making them available free of charge to any American who has tested positive for the virus in any pharmacy.
The plan also provides funding for schools and day care centers to improve their ability to prevent transmission by providing them with Covid tests and resources needed to improve ventilation.