among them 13 year old man who quietly offers his words oh god forgive our living in our dead he says those who are present among them and those who are absent our young in our old our males in our females who guard whoever you keep alive keep them alive in islam. nicholas hark al jazeera chess senegal. this is al-jazeera these are the top stories israel's aerial bombardment of gaza is continuing with raids on several locations $87.00 palestinians including 18 children have been killed since monday. earlier palestinian factions fired more than $100.00 rockets into israel targeting televisa and all international flights have been diverted at least 7 people in israel have been killed including

a 5 year old boy in the past few days or a force that has more now from southern israel on the latest round of attacks in terms of what the israeli military has been doing recently it says that it is destroyed a facility housing a hamas intelligence unit offices while they were inside it it says that it says is destroyed offices used by other senior hamas figures and attacked the head of the drone unit this is after the use of attack drones a suicide drone sometimes called earlier in the day also saying that they have struck at anti tank units as well violence is also spread within israel is fighting on a scale not seen in decades broke out between palestinian israelis and jewish residents in several cities. in other news indian hospitals have become so

overwhelmed by coronavirus patients that some states and ministering a drug against the advice of the world health organization go and have announced plans to use the n.t. parasitic drug ivermectin to protect against severe qubit infections the w.h.o. recommends is used only in critical trials lebanon is imposing a nationwide lockdown on thursday and friday in an attempt to control any corona virus spread over the holiday restaurants and cafes will be closed and places of worship will operate at around one 3rd capacity. the afghan president says it's time for the taliban to decide whether it wants peace or destruction of the message was delivered at the beginning of a 3 day ceasefire to coincide with the muslim holiday the deal between the taliban and the government follows a surge in violence in recent weeks those are your headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after the bottom line we'll have all the top stories at the top of the hour.

hi i'm steve clemons and i have some questions is joe biden's plan to lift patent protections for corona virus vaccines really such a great idea and will it really get vaccines to billions of people around the world pronto let's get to the bottom line. when he was running for president last year joe biden promised to waive intellectual property protections for corona virus vaccines then last week he actually threw his support behind an effort at the world trade organization to make it happen touching off a political firestorm at home for supporters of the idea it shows that washington understands the pandemic. it doesn't respect borders that the developing world needs help and that

a crisis this great demands big efforts like waving ip to solve it for the critics they're wondering why biden would pull the rug out from beneath the innovators of miracle vaccines produced in an amazingly short period of time they say this decision won't help people get vaccines more quickly and that there are lots of ways to globally produce distribute and deploy vaccines to the rest of the world without giving away intellectual property protections and to american trade protectionists it's blasphemy to give western secrets to medical producers in india china and russia of course is not a done deal and many rich countries like germany opposed by inside so in the end is it just a symbolic move and what will the consequences be today we're getting 2 distinct perspectives on the debate in the 2nd half of the show we're going to be joined by the chief u.s. correspondent of the financial times at lewes but 1st we're talking to dr michelle mcmurry heath the president and c.e.o. of the world's biggest biotech lobby known as bio the biotechnology innovation organization before that dr murray heath was a top executive at johnson and johnson michel it's great to be with you today look

i think a lot of people are feeling pain and frustration as they see so many in india and around the world suffer with the ravages of kovac and in their minds big pharma firms which they see as making lots and lots of money are sitting on property rights that if they were extended could help relieve that pain and suffering and death around the world tell me how you feel about that equation. well let's start with the end goal everyone shares the goal of making sure we get as many code vaccines out to every corner of the world to every person who needs them as soon as possible we are in a race against kobe variants and so it's incredibly important not only that everyone get backs needed but that we do it very very quickly know when to say until we are all safe this is uniformly shared amongst our companies and i think among public health professionals around the globe where we differ as is to the

fastest way to actually get that done and what stands in the way right now between shops and more arms is not intellectual property many of our companies have licensed their technology to manufacturers around the globe i was recently in a conversation with the head of the vaccine manufacturing association in india and he was saying what we need is not more access to ip we have lots of the top leading bechstein manufacturers licensed their technology to indian manufacturers but we can't get our hands on the raw materials because a well meaning steps like the defense protection act which is really stopped a lot of the raw materials needed to manufacture vaccines at the u.s. border preventing them from being exported out to others and the fact that the u.s. has been really demanding that the manufacturers reserve their supplies from the u.s. population 1st these are well meaning policies you can understand the incentives behind them and the logic behind them but now that we're facing

a global crisis it's more important for us to share and that's actually why the biotechnology innovation organization has put together a group of proposals that would get us to the destination that we actually call share to really make sure we're sharing the raw materials as well as the back scene to everyone who needs them i want to hear more about that in just a moment but i but i would like to play a clip from dr titus gabriel the director general the world health organization who's commented on this i want to ask you about you know the ecosystem that has led to the generation of these vaccines and why he has the perspective he does both listen to dr gary s's. we on you not unprecedented crisis that's required is unprecedented action cases on a record high almost 100000 people out of dying globally each week and we have

a chronic buxom crisis the world trade organization provisions for ip we've designed precisely for a situation like this so michelle i know that the w.h.o. director general understands that we've been through this period where there's been essentially a miraculous set of vaccine options that have been developed in you know very very short period of time and that we're not through this tunnel what do you think is going on here what why you suggested share others have suggested a global marshall plan that would deploy this that that wouldn't touch intellectual property why are we looking at the intellectual property as the conveyor of vaccines as he describes it that you know some people argue could undermine that innovative ecosystem that's created all these options. well let's start with this premise that this these are unprecedented times that call for unprecedented action

and that's exactly what you see from the manufacturers and the invaders you know in the 1st 13 months of this pandemic a company started over 960 research and development programs targeted at trying to you know prevent cobe it or stop code that we've seen the emergence of their picks and vaccines we talk a lot about the top 10 that are either not been approved or close to being approved but there are actually over 190 back scenes in development that kind of were bussed response to any public health emergency is exactly what we want to see and we don't want to do anything to undermine that response by shaking confidence and the ip system that has served us so well this is we need to make sure that we are handling this pandemic without undermining our ability to respond to the next pandemic because we never know when that will come so there's that 2nd i understand his frustration because he's been trying to stimulate global leaders to take part in

kovacs which is a w.h.o. supported effort to universally of around the globe pool resources from from wealthier countries use those resources resources to purchase back scenes at very low cost and then distribute them around the globe so that the poorest countries would receive kobe back scenes for free and yet what what he see is a lack of response our company our countries have not stepped up to the plate the biden administration took a huge step but i reversed in the previous administration's stance and actually pledging to participate in kovacs the u.s. had been absent from the table up to then and yet we've only paid half of our financial commitment to kovacs so we only pay $2.00 of the $4000000000.00 the u.s. has pledged to help perch. so we need to really take part in our global commitment we need to step up to the table and help all of the countries that are

in a position to help distribute vaccines around the globe and i think with the ws doing is going to color not go out and saying ok if this is something that you care about that this is something that's important then you've left us no choice but to talk about it because we're trying to bring everyone to the table and thus far we failed so maybe it's a negotiating tactic on his part look i know that your background that you have worked in research labs you work at one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world johnson and johnson a lot of people listening to this show are going to know astra zeneca johnson and johnson pfizer and these are the big firms and they see and feel that these firms are making you know lots of money in the middle of this crisis and that there's something that doesn't feel right about that one of the reason i wanted to talk to you is that i know that bio is comprised of small firms that are not receiving government money that are making investments in bets around that i'd love to get your perspective and tell that story because i think it's been neglected in the

discussion about property rights and why would they do what they're doing if they didn't have you know a property right element in moving their assets and you know their intellectual assets to try to solve this crisis. all right so let's talk about 1st of all what some of the largest companies have done you know johnson and johnson has publicly pledged that they will sell their back seen at cost but is there has pledge that they will sell their exene at not for profit rates so you have them are just companies in our ecosystem really stepping forward and saying if you are we have the capacity to help we will but the small companies are the life blood of our innovation even foster has has partnered with a very small company bio in tech to produce their back scene and we have companies like madonna who are incredibly small before this pandemic started those 960 research projects i talked about 90 percent of them 90 percent of our global response to cohabit has come from our smallest biotechnology companies but

a 50 percent of those companies are u.s. based because the u.s. has the investment ecosystem to drive that kind of response more covert research has been done in the u.s. and then in the rest of the world combined because of our robust ecosystem that helps match innovators to investors and that's precisely because we have the ability to say you know the carrot for all of these efforts is the opportunity to purchase ants make your money back even though 9 out of 10 research and development programs in biotechnology fail so the odds are against you but at this point we're saying the deck is stacked against you if we also take ip out of the equation what happens in your view if a coven 20 comes down the pike cove a 20 meaning the successor coronavirus. pathogen that might might come along

down the pike if something like an intellectual property wave wavers. protocol gets established. well we can almost turn the clock back and imagine what it would have looked like you know when we started those 190 coded bechstein projects there was absolutely no way to predict which of them would be successful in fact some of the front runners that we hoped would work actually did not pan out to be successful and so we need to have a huge set of bets paid placed in in if we have any hope of trying to combat a pandemic so in the next one comes i don't want the investors that made those 190 seem research and development programs possible to say you know actually i don't want to take that i don't think it's worth my investment it's not just about the scientists being committed to trying to find solutions it's not just about our companies being committed to the science into innovation it's also about the

confidence of investors and so we need to maintain a confidence if we want to have the ability to respond further down the line we run this nash this natural experiment already europe has really roaded their biotechnology ecosystem over the last 30 or 40 years and we've seen that they have not been able to generate as much response to code as the u.s. companies so why are we going to repeat that mistake and shawn when i ask you to take your you know professional medical professional hat off for a minute and talk as a politician you know a global politician and gauge and for there's my next guest at a loose when this announcement of a tweeted out something very impressive he said you know this is going to be great for america's brand in the world this sends a signal that america is back that it's reengaged after years of seeing that brand sink into a kind of narcissistic. position you know with with a lot of disregard that's why i added

a lot of words the street there but his point is it was sent to signal about american concern for the rest of the world like nothing. else can do i'd like to hear your thoughts about that just very briefly and is there an alternative where america could send as equally a powerful message to the world that it really cares for the world and still kind of ride this interesting question about what to do with property rights. if america was truly back and america truly expressed their caring for the world we would be fully funding kovacs we would be leading and calling on other countries to fully fund kovacs we would be donating what is estimated to be an excess of 300000000 vaccines doses that we will have sitting around in excess in a few weeks to countries around the globe and we would be opening up our raw materials to make sure anyone around the globe who is licensed to produce a coma bechstein would have over 200 gradients they need to produce

a single vaccine that is american leadership that is really saying let's solve this problem and as quickly as and as a mission as possible it does nothing to hand needy countries a recipe book with no ingredients the lack of manpower needed to really fuel and safely produce these vaccines and undermine not only these very fragile will supply chains for all of these 200 raw materials but then also to put the accountability and trumpet great back in their laps and say here go take the 6 to 12 months it takes to stand up your own backseat manufacturing facility go find the raw materials that barely exist and good luck make it on your own we need to do more than that we are such a leading light in the world and we need to expect more of ourselves and we need to actively help or dr michelle mcmurry he's president and c.e.o.

of the biotechnology innovation organization thanks so much for sharing your views with us today thank you for having me steve now to get more perspective on the issue of patent waivers for the coronavirus vaccine we're joined by edward luce us national editor and columnist for the financial times based here in washington d.c. once upon a time edward was also the india bureau chief for the financial times as well and we know india is going through a bit of hell at this. moment on this very subject you have been positive about president biden's commitment to join those nations that want to waive intellectual property waivers with regards to grant i respect seen particularly with regard to helping india and other developing nations that are real trouble do you think this is the solution. no no no single act the biden administration or its western partners takes is going to be the solution in and of itself but i think this is part of the solution which we can get into in a moment i do think it's a very important. politically symbolic and geo politically symbolic gesture from

the biden administration to the world to expect american leadership on this it is extremely rare if ever that you see an american president take on big pharma it just doesn't happen this isn't something that you get up in the morning as president think oh that's easy i'll do that it just doesn't happen so the fact that i think he's been prepared to take on big pharma and do something that they don't want is going to be noticed and does send a very important signal of the seriousness of intent right you up he wanted that intent and it does seem time in a fascinating article in the financial times this week you swatted him as well the president for not coordinating better with our european allies on this so what are you trying to hit and criticize on that element well the announcement last week was followed very quickly by irritation from i'm going to merkel from my money well my

craw and from the european commission in brussels and i think what this indicated is not just that they have a more conventional stance on ip protection which i'm going to market in particular does but that they haven't been consultation with america's allies in europe on this the been a huge internal debate on this you mentioned in your introduction. biden promised in the campaign to wave p. on these vaccines so this shouldn't be a surprise but the devil is always going to be in the details and this is a global act this isn't just an autonomous american act it has to be. approved by consensus that the world trade organization which means that america's partners france britain germany the swiss a big pharma produce are going to need to be on side so i think there was a little bit of. there was probably a little bit of. absence of diplomacy and ground preparation by the biden that

ministration you know there's been a lot of focus on big pharma just as you just shared there's also little farm as we just heard from dr mcmurray heath if the biotechnology innovation organization you know their little firms like grid stone which is involved in some oncology approaches which it has found useful in attacking the krona virus in various efforts that they're making can be called a novio which is working on d.n.a. platform to deal with the h.p.v. virus deal with other brain cancer issues of what the kind that beau biden died from also finding a way to attack the coronavirus vaccine across a wide spectrum so when when small companies are hearing that their intellectual property rights may be waived. they may be waved across other efforts that they were making and these aren't government funded companies how do you feel about that dimension because i worry that these little firms are having the rug ripped out from underneath them after years of investment in work to try to develop things

that would help mankind but it's not a you know it's not run by the government these are private firms you know that should be no theological position on intellectual property protection those are things that shouldn't be any you know clearly living in a different universe and those who think it should always be robust and draconian living in a universe most of us don't want to live in so clearly in the real world we're going to have tradeoffs between the incentives to innovate the rewards you get from innovation but also on occasion such as this one and overriding public interest. in waving property intellectual property protection the details of what biden is proposing are not clear if you look at the original demand from india and south africa that's a very sweeping the licensing they're proposing of not just sort of not just m.r. and a and. more traditional vaccine but a much more sweeping across the board of all the equipment and ecosystems around

them i don't think biden is proposing that and even if he were i don't think that's what would come through a. consensus building process so i think the companies that ought to be most concerned about whether this is going to hit their bottom line probably. and their big supplier. you know i think that part of the framing of this is that some of those that who advocate waiving property rights see this as big companies trying to keep profits while lives are being lost and i think that framing is working for a lot of people in the world why do you think the alternative argument is. as compelling that these companies this ecosystem private public partnerships in really less than a year came up with miraculous vaccines many options in a remarkably short period of time and that's never happened before in history and

so that's the alternative argument that doesn't seem to be selling as much as the other side of it and it's a good argument i would quibble with some of the details of it the miraculous this is built on a lot of public research as well as private sector innovation as is so often the case the national institutes of health. within the pentagon oxford university of course the other side of the atlantic many science bodies publicly funded science bodies and universities have been part of this giant effort to develop these vaccines and then of course there was operation was a spate which had very generous contract just as regardless of whether the vaccines would cost regulatory approval that gave huge commercial confidence for these companies to ramp up then of course liability waivers so you know the idea that this is sort of pharmacies going to quit the genius in his garage just having a light bulb going on in his head and now we're punishing him for being

a genius is not really how this process works there are brilliant people in the private sector there are also brilliant people in the public sector funded by taxpayer money and taxpayers don't tend to claim patents you know at the end i have this famous spike protein that's a key part of the vaccine it gave it to me it didn't pay its into it so the taxpayer is not getting any dividends from the shareholders of medina and i i don't think that's balanced by taking a global health emergency and you're one of the best observers are of global affairs and america's place in the world that i know and just finally i'm interested this fact that you know as it looks like right now we're going to have a schism. with germany and france in one side maybe the americans and who knows on the other so this you know what the deputy oh is a consensus based organization so this may fall flat on its face while people continue to die in india and elsewhere around the world what should we do if in

fact that intellectual property waiver effort by joe biden just gets stuck in a log jam what should we put on the table if that woman with the goes nowhere oh i think even if it does go somewhere we've got to put all of the above on the table and i agree with me show very strongly that the biden administration should be putting a lot more into kovacs as should the europeans the should be an old. approach to this pandemic that involves taking a lot more seriously globally than we've seen so far and if the by administration stopped at this the 3b34b it's pledged to kovacs and the pledge to you for the trips wait. for vaccines then this would be empty gesture. diplomacy it's got to be part of a much broader sort of tool kit of emergency measures most of which we've yet to

see so i would agree with strongly on that point well edward luce us national editor for the financial times thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today thank you it's a pleasure so what is the bottom line it's easy to see the issues of vaccine patents in black and white either you're on the side of the angels and want to give away intellectual property freely for the sake of humankind or you're on the other side this side of the devils and you value cold hard cash over human lives even in the middle of a pandemic that just keeps spreading but like many debates it's really not so simple if washington was interested in equitable vaccine distribution why isn't it doing more to get vaccines to poor countries why not announce today right now a global marshall plan for vaccines and do to put. duction in the air lifting in the mass vaccinations to every corner of the earth the world can't wait for a long world trade organization debate on patent protection the only thing we know for sure is that this pandemic with new variants erupting around the world is

testing humanity in scary ways every single day and that's the bottom line. frank assessment it's. the government he's. taking quite a situation like a man not to feel he could ever again informed opinions is the u.s. with thinking the military positioning of the middle east was just a simple act of reorganizing ministry us that this is a message to the region the united states years are rethinking its military posture

in-depth analysis of the day's global headlines inside story on which is iraq. welcome to the past fake journey by you feel your holiday has already begun whether dreaming skin or. those with a taste for the final night. of the film at least the relaxing. some. days connected it's the details that make such an impact that warmth and hospitality make it feel like qatar airways places together . in hebron boys breathe and fly pigeons but in this occupied palestinian city boys are also close to watched by israeli forces at times and often are arrested. a delicately told tales filmed over 5 years of a coming of age in a place where even

a child's imagination is every restricted the skies above hebron a witness documentary on a. we know what's happening i region we know how to get there they feel that others in on the fires are still going on the way they can tell their story is what can make a difference. in the. israel warns us campaign on gaza could last for several days as palestinian factions far more rockets into israel. alone welcome i'm peter dhabi you're watching al-jazeera live from also coming up israel deploys more troops to the gaza border as it weighs up a possible ground operation. assess strikes rain on gaza the.