Intellectual Property Rights for COVID Vaccines Must be Protected

June 4, 2021

The Biden Administration deserves credit for how it has handled the pandemic at home. It has been consistent in its messaging, restored the federal government’s credibility through its management of the crisis, and has delivered on its promise to rapidly deliver vaccines.

At the global level, though, it has strayed off-course. The issue is whether the intellectual property rights of companies that produce COVID vaccines will be protected. A proposal before the World Trade Organization (WTO) would waive those rights in order to accelerate vaccine production in the developing world, and the Biden administration has misguidedly expressed its support.