WTO chief says global action needed after vaccine talks

The head of the World Trade Organization set out a series of actions on Wednesday for countries, vaccine makers and international bodies to increase production of vaccines and make them more widely available.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called a meeting of producers, governments and finance institutions and laid out challenges for each, including action to reduce export restrictions and progress in talks on a proposal to waive temporarily pharmaceutical companies' intellectual property rights.