I think open-sourcing any IP (either by govt’s buying it and putting it out for free, or by developing it with that intention from the beginning like Oxford had planned) would largely solve this problem. You wouldn’t need to have contracts or govts mandate that companies don’t profit during the pandemic. There would just be an actually competitive market for generic vaccines.
Vaccine availability in poor countries is abysmal. Which is the main issue I see with the IP-protecting approach to vaccine development. If you just let companies set monopoly prices, as other commenters have suggested, poor countries will be priced out.
I think open-sourcing any IP (either by govt’s buying it and putting it out for free, or by developing it with that intention from the beginning like Oxford had planned) would largely solve this problem. You wouldn’t need to have contracts or govts mandate that companies don’t profit during the pandemic. There would just be an actually competitive market for generic vaccines.
Vaccine availability in poor countries is abysmal. Which is the main issue I see with the IP-protecting approach to vaccine development. If you just let companies set monopoly prices, as other commenters have suggested, poor countries will be priced out.