TRIPS chair to WTO members: Stop dragging your feet on waiver talks

The World Trade Organization negotiations on whether and how to waive some intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines have reached text-based talks but lack the political momentum and urgency from members needed to move them forward, the chair of the WTO body tasked with concluding the negotiations said on Thursday. During an informal meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, chair Lansana Gberie, Sierra Leone’s ambassador, expressed frustration that the talks were moving at a glacial...