FRANCE, SPAIN BACK VACCINE PATENT WAIVER BUT GERMANY DITHERS

EU leaders meeting on Friday in Portugal showed interest in suspending intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines following a policy shift in the United States, but many expressed doubt this would turbo-charge global production.

The question of patent protection jumped onto the agenda at an informal summit in Portugal after Washington threw its weight behind the idea in a major U-turn earlier this week, forcing the bloc to re-evaluate its position, Ella Joyner and Leonie Kijewski reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

While several countries expressed their support for the idea, others doubted that it would solve any vaccine shortages in the short or medium term.

"The first issue for vaccine solidarity is the distribution of doses," French President Emmanuel Macron said before heading into talks with his counterparts, reiterating his openness to the idea. "100 percent" of shots produced in the US stayed in that country, he added.

Macron said the question of the technology transfer required to produce jabs was more pressing than dropping protection for vaccine recipes. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez echoed the assessment, arguing that technology transfer and boosting production all over the world were key. He generally welcomed Washington's announcement, but said he believed suspending patents alone was "insufficient."

While Italy and Poland have also voiced support for the move, political heavyweight Germany was more reluctant prior to the meeting. During talks over dinner in Porto on Friday evening, reactions were similarly mixed, and multiple countries voiced their reservations, EU sources told dpa.

According to EU sources, German Chancellor Angela Merkel - who did not travel to the talks in Porto but dialed in - raised concerns over waiving patent rights. She also argued that technologically advanced China could benefit from the knowledge about vaccines more than developing countries, for example.

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