Representational image.
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Ernesto Benavides / AFP
The United State’s Joe Biden administration’s move to support a waiver of intellectual property in the World Trade Organisation on Covid-19 vaccines is a welcome step in the world’s fight against a surging pandemic.
The step also brings forth a much-needed and renewed conversation for richer nation-states to prioritise “social utility” considerations attached with processes of invention in a sector like healthcare. Back in 2016, I had discussed these in detail in context to India’s intellectual property rights policy.
Even though big pharma companies may act as monopolists or oligopolists with vested interests and discourage any process to democratise cross-company dissemination of “economically profitable” vaccine research knowledge, there are geostrategic and public health considerations at play now that need priority above any perceivable gains for profit by corporations.