EU praises vaccine cooperation with Africa at summit

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have lauded the bloc’s cooperation with Africa on vaccines in the fight against the coronavirus, but there is no sign they will move toward the temporary lifting of intellectual property rights protection for COVID-19 shots. Despite calls from India and South Africa supported by the African Union for a temporary intellectual property waiver that would allow more manufacturers to produce the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, the EU still believes this is not the right solution. Speaking Thursday on the first day of an EU-Africa summit in Brussels, the head of the European Commission said the EU will continue to focus in the short term on the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines.