No vaccine for patents

On May 5, 2021, the Joe Biden administration announced that it would support waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines under the World Trade Organisation's agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)....

Waiving patent protections is certainly no panacea. What is needed most urgently is a massive drive of technology transfer, capacity expansion and supply-line coordination to bring vaccine supply in line with global demand. Dispensing with patents in no way obviates the need for governments to fund and oversee this effort....

When we take the longer view, we can see a fundamental mismatch between the policy design of intellectual property protection and the policy requirements of effective pandemic response. Although patent law, properly restrained, constitutes one important element of a well-designed national innovation system, the way it goes about encouraging technological progress is singularly ill-suited to the emergency conditions of a pandemic or other public health crisis....


In a pandemic, vaccines are created to prevent the spread of a specific virus and other drugs to treat that virus.... As recompense for letting it call the shots (pardon the pun), the government sweetens the deal for drug companies by insulating them from commercial risk. If pharmaceutical firms develop effective vaccines and therapies, the government will buy large, predetermined quantities at prices set high enough to guarantee a healthy return.

From 'Why Intellectual Property and Pandemics Don't Mix',

The Brookings Institution