Big Pharma Refuses to Lift Patents on the Covid-19 Vaccines the World Desperately Needs
Doing so may be the only chance of ending the pandemic
On one side are the leaders of 57 nations, the Pope, and a coalition of nursing unions all over the world. On the other are the executives of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical corporations. At issue is an idea that may be the only chance of ending the Covid-19 pandemic — and also takes aim at the drug industry’s core business model.
The dividing question: Should Covid-19 vaccines remain the intellectual property of drug companies?
In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted a petition asking that the World Trade Organization waive the intellectual property rules relating to Covid-19 that currently restrict nations from manufacturing their own versions of any patented Covid-19 vaccines and drugs without a voluntary license deal.
Since then, Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson have all announced Covid vaccine breakthroughs. But access to the vaccines remains elusive in most of the world. Wealthy nations, such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Chile, Israel, and countries in the European Union represent only 16% of the world’s population but have secured 60% of available Covid-19…
