Statement from Margarida Jorge, campaign director for Lower Drug Prices Now, on news that the Biden Administration will support a waiver to allow other countries to produce the COVID vaccine: 

Today, the Biden Administration made clear that the United States will lead by example in the global fight against COVID. This fight can only be won by working together, not allowing the pharmaceutical corporations to dictate who gets access to COVID vaccines and when.

By choosing to put people over pharmaceutical profits, President Biden has made it possible for millions of communities to have access to vaccinations that are literally the difference between life and death. This administration’s action will create a pathway to dramatically increase global vaccine production to finally meet global demand, ensure that no one gets left behind and keep all of us safer.  

Safe and affordable vaccines must be made available to everyone if we’re going to end the global devastation this virus is causing. By supporting the TRIPS waiver, President Biden is standing on the side of patients and our national security, decisively making the COVID vaccine a global public good.