European Union president Ursula von der Leyen has said the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about a US proposal to share the technology behind Covid-19 vaccines to help speed the end of the pandemic.

Without firmly committing to it, she said "we are ready to discuss how the US proposal for waiver on intellectual property protection for Covid vaccines could help".

In a video address, she added: "In the short run, however, we call upon all vaccine-producing countries to allow exports."

President Joe Biden's administration is throwing its support behind efforts to waive intellectual property protections for vaccines.

US trade representative Katherine Tai announced the US government's position in a statement, amid World Trade Organisation talks over easing global trade rules to enable more countries to produce more of the life-saving jabs.

"The administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for Covid -19 vaccines," Ms Tai said in a statement.

She warned it would take time to reach the required global "consensus" to waive the protections under WTO rules, and US officials said it would not have an immediate effect on the global supply of jabs.

In a tweet, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John N Nkengasong, said the organisation welcomed the waiver and called the decision "leadership in action".

He added: "History will remember this decision as a great act of humanity!"

Ms Tai's announcement came hours after WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke to a closed-door meeting of ambassadors from developing and developed countries that have been wrangling over the issue, but agree on the need for wider access to Covid-19 treatments.

The WTO's General Council took up the issue of a temporary waiver for intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines and other tools, which South Africa and India first proposed in October. The idea has gained support among some progressive legislators in the West.

More than 100 countries have backed the proposal, and a group of 110 members of US Congress - all fellow Democrats of Mr Biden - sent him a letter last month calling on him to support the waiver.

Opponents - especially from industry - say a waiver would be no panacea. They insist that production of coronavirus vaccines is complex and cannot be ramped up by easing intellectual property. They also say lifting protections could damage future innovation.