BURLINGTON, Vt., May 5 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday issued the following statement after the Biden Administration announced it supports efforts to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines: 

“I applaud President Biden and his administration for taking this bold step in response to the world’s most urgent crisis. Our vaccination efforts here at home will only be successful if vaccination efforts in the developing world happen simultaneously. Supporting this waiver, and putting people over profits, will help us to do that by speeding up the production and availability of vaccines. This is exactly the kind of leadership the world needs right now.

“I also recognize the dedicated work done by activists in communities around the world to put this issue on the global agenda. We are all in this together.”

Sen. Sanders last month led a letter to President Biden calling for the administration to back the waiver effort.