Will China follow US support for waiving IP protections on vaccines?

The debate over how to get enough supplies to vaccinate the world has pitted the Pope and the head of the World Health Organization against pharmaceutical executives, and seen developing countries resist the policies of wealthy nations. The issue is whether Covid-19 vaccine makers should lose intellectual property (IP) protections in a bid to ramp up global manufacturing and expand access to doses in poorer countries. In comments on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hedged, saying China “looks forward to active and constructive discussions among all parties within the framework of the World Trade Organization in a bid to achieve an effective and balanced result”.