WHO asks China for patent release

The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked two Chinese manufacturers of Covid vaccines to release their vaccine patents, South China Morning Post reported. „We are in touch with the two big companies that have the vaccines approved by the World Health Organization,“ said Erika Dueñas Loayza, head of the intellectual property unit in the WHO division for access to medicines and health products. The goal is to improve access to vaccines for countries in the global south. So far, only 7.3 percent of the population in African countries have been fully vaccinated against Covid.