BERLIN, May 8 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday she was opposed to waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines as this could jeopardise the quality of shots against the disease.
“I made it clear that I do not believe that giving away patents is the solution to make vaccines available to more people,” Merkel said when asked about the European Union’s readiness to discuss a U.S. proposal to wave patent protections.
“If a patent is given away and the quality is no long controlled I see more risk than chance,” Merkel said, adding that manufacturers were better able to modify vaccines to make them effective against new variants of the coronavirus. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; editing by Jason Neely)
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