Pharmaceutical companies might think it a bit rich being asked to waive the patents on their Covid vaccines by Harry and Meghan, a couple who have rejected the concept of public service in an attempt to monetise their royal status. But let’s overlook the charge of hypocrisy and ask whether there really is any substance to Harry and Meghan’s charge that ‘ultra-wealthy’ pharmaceutical companies are holding up the vaccination of the developing world by refusing to surrender their intellectual property.
It is certainly not true in the case of AstraZeneca, which has made its vaccine available at cost price. Not only that, it has licensed production to the Serum Institute of India, so that low and middle income countries can access vaccines produced at a lower cost base. While other manufacturers have been less forthcoming, the refusal to surrender patents hasn’t stopped wealthy countries donating 300 million doses of Covid vaccines to 142 countries, with a total of 1.3
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