Could a patent waiver change the pandemic’s course?

US backing of proposal to waive intellectual property protections for COVID jabs has raised hopes in poorer nations.

On May 5, the United States government decided to throw its weight behind an increasingly popular World Trade Organization measure: waiving intellectual property protections for COVID vaccines. But what is this waiver? And what could it actually mean for people looking to get inoculated? We explain how seemingly arcane trade negotiations have come to mean life and death for the billions of people waiting on a vaccine. In this episode: