Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Says Covid-19 Vaccine Waiver Is a Step to Increase Global Supply

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the world is in a race to stop Covid-19 variants like the one spreading through India, saying that a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for vaccines was one step toward increasing supply and that booster shots might also be needed. Dr. Murthy said during The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival that the three vaccines used in the U.S. have so far proven to be effective against severe infection and death when it comes to variants like the more transmissible B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the U.K. But he said more research was needed to determine the level of protection those vaccines offer against B.1.617, which originated in India and was classified this week by the World Health Organization as a global “variant of concern.”