The biggest effort in the history of medicine is underway to eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic. The human and economic toll has been devastating, and governments have had few tools to defend their populations. That’s why it’s important to recognize the remarkable progress scientists have made to discover, and deliver, safe and effective vaccines and treatments. This triumph of ingenuity is a testament to the power of intellectual property (IP) protections, which have supercharged the abilities of our brightest scientific minds and most innovative companies.
As the pandemic began, activists made repeated calls for businesses to suspend IP protections, claiming they would impede R&D into vaccines and treatments. Today, even as innovators have provided us with several safe and effective vaccines, the same groups are again calling for the suspension of IP protections. Now, they’re suggesting the move would improve manufacturing and distribution, particularly to developing nations — and they’ve codified that suggestion into a proposal under consideration at the World Trade Organization. They’re wrong again.
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