Macron Backs Waiving Patents on Covid-19 Vaccine

French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed Thursday that he was "absolutely in favour" of a global waiver on patent protection for Covid-19 vaccines.

Macron added his voice to a campaign backed by U.S. President Joe Biden.

The French President's statement marked a shift for France, which had previously opposed such a move as likely to discourage innovation and argued patents should only be waived as a last resort.

On Wednesday, Biden showed sharp reversal of the previous U.S. position, affirming his support behind waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines.

In remarks to reporters, the U.S. President voiced his support for a waiver which followed swiftly by a statement from his top trade negotiator, Katherine Tai, who backed negotiations at the World Trade Organization.

“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” Tai said in a statement.

Notably, the global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness rose above 155 million on Thursday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll rose above 3.24 million.