S1E75 / Vaccinating the World Part I: The Problem with Patents / Chris Morten, Prithi Krishtel, Rohit Malpani

EPIDEMIC with Dr. Celine Gounder

"It's a triumph of science and engineering that we now have multiple effective COVID vaccines. We just need to find the political will to invest a bit more money and deploy them around the world." -Chris Morten

President Joe Biden said the United States would be the world's "arsenal of vaccines" but critics say current plans to donate 80 million doses around the world are not enough. Instead, countries like India and South Africa are calling for a waiver on vaccine patents so they can make their own. In this episode we’re going to look at the controversy around patent protections for vaccines during the pandemic and what the U.S. government could do to improve access to vaccines around the world. We'll hear what tools the U.S. government has to pressure companies to share their vaccine tech and learn about some ideas on how the patent system could be re-imagined to ensure life-saving technology is more equitably distributed.

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