Shares of Covid vaccine makers seesawed Thursday after the Biden administration said it would back a motion before the World Trade Organization to waive patent protections of the mRNA technology used to make the shots.
Pfizer fell Thursday by as much as 5% from Wednesday’s close while Moderna dipped by almost 12% before both stocks recovered most of those losses. The companies use the same mRNA technology to make their shots. Pfizer, which is making its Covid-19 vaccine with French pharmaceutical company BioNTech, closed down by about 1% for the day while Moderna lost about 1.4% for the day.
South Africa and India are pressing U.S. officials and the WTO to temporarily waive patent protections so developing countries can produce the life-saving vaccines until world leaders can get the pandemic under control. Human rights organizations like Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and Amnesty International have all signed onto a letter supporting the proposal.
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