WITH ANY LUCK, the world will be awash in covid-19 vaccines by the end of the year. For now, though, it is not, and of the billion or so doses that have been produced the vast majority have been administered in richer countries. Deaths, by contrast, are increasingly concentrated in poorer ones, like India, where only about nine in every 100 people have been jabbed, compared with 64 in America. Some governments are floating radical options to remedy the mismatch. India and South Africa, for instance, propose that members of the World Trade Organisation waive intellectual-property (IP) protections for covid-fighting technologies, including vaccines. Some in the rich world are warming to the idea; in America, ten Democratic senators recently urged President Joe Biden to back it. Drugmakers, however, warn that it would deal a crippling blow to innovation. Even though ip protections are not a big constraint on vaccine production today, the experience of covid-19 suggests that a re-examination of ip rights in the context of health emergencies is overdue.
展开▼
