COVID-19 Vaccine IP Waiver Will Benefit Foreign Rivals Like China, Critics Warn

A 15-year-old receives the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the CCP virus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on May 13, 2021. Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON—The debate is growing over whether developed countries including the United States should temporarily waive intellectual property (IP) and patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines to expedite global vaccination efforts.

The Biden administration on May 5 announced that it would support the waiver of those protections for vaccines “to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution” around the world to end the pandemic.