On the matter of "patent waiving" here is BBC's report
Some comment from me:
Meanwhile, officials in other member states such as France and Italy gave the proposal their full backing.
In the reuters report French president did show support to the idea, but one of his officials did not and was very critical. We will have to wait and see.
The head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, Thomas Cueni, told the BBC's Today programme he was "deeply concerned" that "you could compromise the quality and safety of vaccines which we see now".
"It is shortages and scarcity in the supply chains, which need to be addressed. And it is also right now the disappointing unwillingness of rich countries to early share doses with the poor countries," he said.
The industry is actually saying the truth as the French official said.
But pharmaceutical companies have called the decision by the US to back the sharing of secret recipes for vaccinations shortsighted, claiming it is understanding the production process that is the real challenge. It is, they say, akin to handing out a recipe without sharing the method or the ingredients, and could lead to quality issues and less efficient production
Once again, it is production capability, not the recipe. To illustrate the argument, in a report about China's mRNA research, one of the team has a key member being the national center of nano-technology. The nano-technology is used as the carrier of mRNA particles. This is how BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are made. If patent is the blueprint of a house, the nano-technology is the concrete, steel and machinery.
I would like to make an analogue. India and South Africa have their houses burnt down. Instead of asking for tents, clothes and food they ask the blueprints of mansions from other countries. Biden knows that without concrete, steels and machines, blueprints are just a worthless paper. He is much more happier to give it than actually giving his clothes and food that he saved for his party. It also deflect the blame. Germany knows that this is just a stunt and would not give up something valuable for a stunt.
Some may say that China and Russia are also positive to the idea, that remains to be seen, don't trust English media for what they say, they may just lie abut China and Russia to press Germany. Even if it is true, China's inactivated vaccine is nothing about patent, it is 99% about production capability and extreme bio-safety standard that India and South Africa have no way to copy.
It is a stunt by India to (趁火打劫，假公济私) take advantage for its pharmaceutical industry by moral hijacking. It is a stunt by Biden to do nothing in order to gain something.
