Waiving Vaccine Patents Won’t Be a Panacea

With patients in India dying in the streets and crematoriums melting down from overuse, pressure is building on the U.S. and other rich nations to waive patents so that anyone, anywhere can produce Covid-19 vaccines. There’s no question that boosting global manufacturing and distribution of vaccines should be an overriding priority, but the argument over intellectual property is missing a crucial point. IP waivers, by themselves, won’t get the job done.

The issue will be front and center at World Trade Organization meetings this week. India, South Africa and more than 50 other countries are demanding a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics. They say that rich countries have cornered the market on vaccine supplies, inoculating their populations 25 times faster than poor countries and refusing to share stockpiles until their own needs have been met. Meanwhile India, which has fully vaccinated barely 2% of its population, is setting world records as new cases have reached 400,000 per day.