The right incentives for global vaccine access

The right incentives for global vaccine access

Michele Goodwin, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of law and Gregory Shaffer, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of law writes, “A temporary intellectual-property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines will not boost access, because the main obstacle isn’t patents, but trade secrets. With political will, however, the threat of an IP waiver can help shift vaccine producers’ incentives and catalyze mass production for low- and middle-income countries.”