Daines to Biden: Waiving COVID-19 Vaccine Patents, IP Protections Undermines American Innovation

Press Release

U.S. Senator Steve Daines is calling on President Biden to protect American innovation and not give away COVID-19 vaccine patents and IP protections to foreign countries that were made possible because of American science and ingenuity. Daines' request comes after the Biden administration announced its support for waiving IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines earlier this month.

"Suspending World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations to protect IP on COVID-19 vaccines would not only fail to significantly speed up vaccine distribution to the rest of the world, but it would set a dangerous precedent on IP protection at the international level and undermine American innovation," the letter states.

"IP protections are a foundation of American society, so much so, our Founding Fathers enshrined them in the Constitution. U.S. IP laws encourage robust innovation and investment, which is one of the reasons why we are able to be a global leader in vaccines and many other innovative therapies," the letter continues.

Read the full letter HERE.

Daines, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, plans to press U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai about this issue at the Finance Committee hearing tomorrow.

Background:

Daines was instrumental in securing funding for the research, development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics under Operation Warp Speed (OWS) - with top researchers, scientists and administration officials touting the Senator's work.

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