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WTO fails anew to agree Covid jab IP waiver proposal
Rockwell said all countries agreed on the need to ramp up production quickly, but disagreed on how best to achieve the goal.
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[WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell] said there was surplus capacity in Senegal, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Thailand, Morocco and Egypt, but while they might have untapped expertise, they would need to have technology and know-how on producing Covid-19 vaccines.
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Rockwell said the opponents of the idea included European countries, Japan and South Korea.... The negotiations have hit a few particular sticking points, notably the duration of the waiver, the scope in terms of products covered and the TRIPS provisions. Other tricky areas include implementation, and the protection of ["]undisclosed information["], said Rockwell.
Tokyo reports record virus cases days after Olympics begin
Tokyo reported 2,848 new Covid-19 cases, exceeding its earlier record of 2,520 daily cases on Jan. 7. That brings its total to more than 200,000 since the pandemic began last year.

Suga's government has been criticized for what some say is prioritizing the Olympics over the nation's health. His public support ratings have fallen [BWAH!] to around 30% in recent media surveys, and there is little festivity surrounding the Games.
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Japan's vaccination drive began late and slowly, but picked up dramatically in May for several weeks as the supply of imported vaccines stabilized and the government pushed to inoculate more people before the Olympics.

The government says 25.5% of Japanese have been fully vaccinated, still way short of the level believed to have any meaningful impact on reducing the risk for the general population.

by Cat on Wed Jul 28th, 2021 at 02:15:33 AM EST
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