She handed the vaccine procurement process over to the European Union. She didn’t invest much in new production. And she allowed an American multinational to take control of a brilliant discovery by a small German biotech company. Angela Merkel, the out-going German Chancellor, has not had much success battling the Covid-19 crisis, and her handling of vaccines has been a catastrophe from start to finish. But she has finally got one thing right: she is defending the patents that protect the pharmaceutical industry.
In the last week, president Biden has signalled that the United States is ready to back suspending patents on Covid vaccines. The president of the EU commission, Ursula von der Leyen – usually Merkel’s mini-me – has suggested the EU is preparing to do the same. Plenty of other countries around the world, from India to South Africa, were already campaigning for a suspension, along with just about every right-on charity, and anyone who has ever written for the Guardian.
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