Waiving Intellectual Property Rights for Vaccines

Keith Albert (Independent), Waiving Intellectual Property Rights for Vaccines (2023):

The global pandemic of the coronavirus virus (COVID-19) continues to spread throughout the world, resulting in a significant public health crisis in the United States. Vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, including the specific goal of delivering 300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021, have been produced in the late-stage clinical development and early manufacturing of vaccines and have been shipped to Europe despite urgent need on vaccines. However, the cost of delayed vaccines is high, and it is expected that the cost will increase to $2.3tn by 2025, with vaccines averaging efficacy of between 66-96% which is above world-wide. The cost of vaccinations is expected to rise to $1.7tn in the next few years, with a cost of $1.3tn per year. This is a testament to how vaccine shortages and the resultant price increase are causing a public health emergency in our country.