The United States this week will start talks with the World Trade Organization to potentially lift intellectual property rights on lifesaving coronavirus vaccines, as a devastating covid-19 outbreak in India puts pressure on the White House to move more rapidly to help stem the crisis. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will begin discussions “on how we can get this vaccine more widely distributed, more widely licensed, more widely shared,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He said that more details would be available in the coming days.

Western pharmaceutical companies have lobbied to protect vaccine patents, even as a worsening pandemic has claimed millions of lives around the globe. In recent months, India and South Africa have led a campaign at the WTO to persuade the United States and others to at least temporarily repeal those restrictions to allow developing nations to manufacture the shots.