Title: Controversy over vaccine patent protection in Western countries: Differences between the positions of the United States and Europe emerge.
Introduction: Recently, the United States and the European Union have disagreed on the issue of lifting patent protection for vaccines. After the health summit, world leaders called for the lifting of vaccine patent protections, but the US proposal was opposed by the European Union. The move sparked condemnation of monopolistic practices by Western countries, which the WHO said could slow the global fight against the pandemic.
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Over the past period, the United States has been taking actions against other countries, especially in anti-Russian actions, and the United States has put pressure on Russia within the framework of the European Union by co-opting small countries in eastern and central Europe, bypassing large European countries such as France and Germany. However, when it comes to its own interests, the EU is no longer on the same side as the United States, and has shown dissatisfaction with the United States, even calling it "hypocritical and selfish".
The recent incident of "forced landing of a flight at a Belarusian airport" has once again highlighted the inconsistency between the United States and the European Union in international affairs. Although the United States and the European Union stood on the same side in this incident and denounced Belarus together, when it came to their own interests, the European Union and the United States once again disagreed.
After the Health Summit, leaders of various countries have called for the lifting of vaccine patent protection, voluntary transfer of vaccine production technology to other countries, promote the increase of vaccine production, and accelerate the pace of global anti-epidemic efforts. However, just as other countries were reaching a consensus, the United States' proposal to "lift vaccine protection" was ultimately shelved due to a dispute with the European Union.
U.S. Vice President Harris said that the United States agrees with the proposal of developing countries to call for the lifting of vaccine patent protection, and hopes to help these countries solve their problems through this initiative. However, this statement was unanimously opposed by European countries. These countries said that instead of lifting vaccine patent protection, it is more important for the United States to lift the relevant control of vaccine raw materials, because this is the key factor leading to the global shortage of vaccines.
Von der Leyen said that existing programmes are sufficient to meet the needs of developing countries. In a critical situation, countries will force the sharing of vaccine technology, and the EU will establish some supporting processes to support this framework, but will not support the US proposal.
The EU said that it should pay more attention to the flexibility of vaccine-related policies than to completely lift vaccine patent protection. The United States, which has previously strictly controlled the export of vaccine raw materials, will now speed up the production of vaccines to a large extent. The EU stresses that without this premise, simply lifting vaccine patent protection will not play an important role.
U.S. Deputy ** Harris's proposal is exactly the same as Biden's statement on the 5th. Biden has demanded that U.S. pharmaceutical companies disclose vaccine patents and called on other countries to agree. He said that this will change the current vaccine situation and accelerate the production and application of vaccines in other countries, and the United States is ready to support other countries in their anti-epidemic efforts.
However, this proposal has been refuted by the European Union, and Germany** has even said that it will never touch the vaccine protection, because this will lead to unfair treatment of vaccine companies, make R&D companies lose motivation, and in turn lead to no one willing to develop a vaccine in future disease outbreaks.
The EU once again ridiculed the United States**, saying that it hopes that vaccine-producing countries can export a certain percentage of vaccines to other countries while producing vaccines, keeping their verbal commitments consistent with their actions. Although it is not explicitly stated, it is clearly a mockery of the United States and the United Kingdom, which keep more than 95% of their vaccines in their own countries.
The European Parliament was even more dismissive of the US proposal, calling it "too hypocritical." They believe that it is extremely selfish for the United States to take a big bite and then ask others not to eat more. According to reports, the United States, with a population of only about 400 million, has ordered nearly 3 billion doses of vaccines, and has stockpiled more than 100 million doses of vaccines in cold storage. The WHO condemns this monopolistic practice, which has delayed the global fight against the pandemic by two to three years.
Conclusion: There is a clear disagreement between the United States and the European Union over the issue of vaccine patent protection. The EU said that the lifting of vaccine patent protection is not the key to solving the problem, but should pay more attention to the flexibility of vaccine-related policies. The controversy has sparked criticism of monopolistic practices by Western countries, which the WHO has condemned as slowing down the global fight against the pandemic. In the current tense global pandemic, the international community needs to show solidarity and cooperation to jointly address the challenges of the pandemic.