A medical worker transfers a dose of covid-19 vaccine at the Makati Coliseum in the Philippines Credit: Majority World/Shutterstock
“These extraordinary times and circumstances… call for extraordinary measures,” tweeted US trade representative Katherine Tai, as she surprised the world by throwing the country’s backing behind a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for covid-19 vaccines.
The announcement on 5 May turbo-charged an idea pushed by India, South Africa and many campaigners: that lifting the IP protections on covid-19 vaccines would boost supplies by allowing the vaccines to be made in greater numbers, in more countries.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director…
Article amended on 10 May 2021
This article has been updated to include information on the World Health Organization's C-TAP plan.
