Covid-19 Vaccines, Innovation, and Intellectual Property Rights

Abstract

Should the intellectual property rights on the …rst Covid-19 vaccines be temporarily lifted in applying the Trade-Related Aspect of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) ‡exibility? Is it right to grant the …rst generation of Covid-19 vaccines a special treatment from an IPR perspective? On what grounds?By extensively reviewing the available medical and economic literature on the subject, this chapter will guide the reader step-by-step to the leading sci-enti…c, political, and cultural challenges in granting broad worldwide access to vaccination.The accumulated delays in providing e¤ective Covid-19 vaccine intervention in the low-and middle-income countries are ultimately responsible for the virus circulation at the global level and the proliferation of immunity-escaping variants. Therefore governmental rationality around the world would suggest any possible active policy tool to scale up the current vaccines supply.However, not to prevent future investment in R&D, the governments should bear the cost of the expected increased industry obsolescence determined by a temporary patent waiver; this includes public patent-buy-outs and regulated public-private R&D partnerships.