Covid vaccine scarcity largely artificial - countries and companies must share knowledge

The Biden administration’s decision to stop opposing a proposed Covid-19 waiver of certain intellectual property rights under World Trade Organization rules is a welcome move. But ending the pandemic also requires scaling up knowledge and technology transfer, as well as public production of vaccine supplies.

While the rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines was a truly impressive achievement, it has been tarnished by constraints on global vaccine supply and the related inequities in distribution. Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

The recent decision by the Biden administration’s to stop opposing a proposed Covid-19 waiver of certain intellectual property (IP) rights under World Trade Organization rules is a welcome move. 

The US Trade Representative acknowledges that “the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures.”