Groups Ask Ramaphosa to Protect mRNA Use Against Moderna Patents
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Health and legal advocacy groups and academics have called on South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to urgently start a process to change the country’s laws to protect a Cape Town-based hub for the manufacturing of messenger RNA vaccines against patents held by Moderna Inc.
The group of more than 30 signatories -- including Medecins Sans Frontiers, the Anglican Church of South Africa and the Legal Resources Centre -- wrote to Ramaphosa asking him to “take the necessary executive action” to safeguard the World Health Organization-backed mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub’s efforts and the ability of low- and middle-income countries to research develop, produce, and register mRNA vaccines.