Big Pharma wants to patent the covid vaccines they developed with billions of taxpayer dollars spent to help them do it. Biden wants to waive their patent rights. Ostensibly to help poorer countries manufacture their own vaccines.
Should the developers be allowed to make trillions from the vaccines that they recieved public help to develop or should we consider the technology to bepart of a public trust.
Salk’s comments on why he never patented the polio vaccine were “Can you patent the sun?”
Most vaccines do not have patents today, or they have expired. But there is more to manufacturing vaccines than just wanting to.
Interesting conundrum. It’ll likely come down to a person’s politics yet again on which side is supported.
But it is an interesting question. And either path likely isn’t the end of the world. Or is it?
BKB