Biden Administration Backs Vaccine Intellectual Property Waiver

The move, which is not supported by the pharmaceutical industry, would allow other countries to design and manufacture COVID-19 vaccines without fear of litigation.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 4 min read

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In a sharp reversal of past policy, President Biden last week (May 5) came out in favor of a World Trade Organization proposal that would waive certain intellectual property protections around COVID-19 vaccines. The move, meant to boost the production of vaccines and address issues of inequity in their distribution, would reveal proprietary information held by companies designing the shots, although some proponents wonder whether the waiver is enough.

“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” Katherine Tai, the US trade representative, says in a statement. “The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines.”

The proposal at the center of the argument was submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) last fall by India and South Africa, two countries ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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