Vaccines are now widely available in the United States. But for the rest of the world… where vaccines are still largely unavailable… the pandemic is now worse than ever. So far, much of the discussion around vaccine supply to the developing world has focused on donating excess doses. 80 million doses might sound like a lot. But the reality is that it’s not nearly enough. 

Dr. Celine Gounder is the host of EPIDEMIC, a podcast about the science, public health, and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. In this excerpt from the podcast, she speaks to an expert on medical patents who proposes one way that the United States government could leverage its patent on a critical component of the COVID vaccines to force pharmaceutical companies to share their intellectual property and expand access to vaccines.

Listen to the full-length episode here:

https://www.justhumanproductions.org/podcasts/s1e75-vaccinating-the-world-part-i-the-problem-with-patents-chris-morten-priti-krishtel-rohit-malpani

You can listen to full episodes of EPIDEMIC with Dr. Celine Gounder, wherever you get your podcasts.