GOP congressman: Biden is China's 'puppet' for helping poorer countries get vaccines

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) on Friday claimed that President Joe Biden’s support for waiving patents on COVID-19 vaccines proves that he is a “puppet” of the Chinese Communist Party.

Members of the World Trade Organization have been advocating for a waiver on patents for the vaccines so that production around the world can increase, allowing poorer nations more access to the shots.

“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement released on Wednesday. Over 3.2 million people from around the world have died from COVID-19 since Feb. 2020.

“The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines.”

Tai went on to note that the “Administration’s aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, praised the decision on Wednesday, calling it a “monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19.”

Appearing on Fox Business, Comer claimed that the praise proved that Biden is “simply a puppet on a string for the World Health Organization,” which he falsely alleged is “simply a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The WHO is a coalition of 194 nations not a subsidiary of China or the Chinese Communist Party. The United States rejoined the group after President Biden, on his first day in office, ordered a reversal of Donald Trump’s capricious decision to leave.

Comer further alleged that the Biden decision would “allow China to have the patents,” another unfounded claim.

No country would “have” the patents should the decision reach final approval. The patents would instead be temporarily waived, allowing local manufacturers to produce the drug without having to worry about increased costs.

From the May 7 edition of Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria”:

JAMES COMER: Immediately upon Joe Biden making this announcement that he was going to eliminate the patent protection for these companies that have spent so much time and money on research and development, coming up with the silver bullet to treat the COVID and then move on past the COVID restrictions, the World Health Organization came out and praised Joe Biden.

 

So what we’ve seen in the first hundred days is Joe Biden simply a puppet on a string for the World Health Organization, which is simply a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party as you mentioned. So, this a worse idea than raising the corporate taxes. I mean, two bad ideas in 24 hours that have a negative impact on business.

 

What incentive is there for pharmaceutical companies to invest massive amounts of money into research and development when we’re just going to allow China to have the patents? It’s just like they’re stealing our patents in technology, we’re going to let them do the same thing in health care, and it’s a bad idea.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.