WHO Vaccine Push Rattles Arguments Against Covid Patent Waiver

More Covid-19 vaccines are poised to reach poor countries thanks to a World Health Organization effort that some policy experts say dismantles a key argument against waiving protections on pandemic-related innovations.

Critics argue that the vaccines by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. are too complicated to produce without big pharma oversight, and that allowing at-need countries to try to replicate them could do more harm than good. Such arguments are part of an ongoing push against a proposed global waiver on vaccine intellectual property rights that’s been under discussion since 2020.

But the WHO has been opening facilities overseas ...