WHO chief: waive Covid vaccine patents to put world on 'war footing'

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he supports patent waiver to help countries make and sell cheap vaccine copies

Opinion: A me first' approach to vaccination won't defeat Covid

The normal rules of business that protect the profits of vaccine manufacturers will have to be set aside if that is what it takes to ensure everybody is immunised against the coronavirus, according to the director general of the World Health Organization.

Writing in the Guardian, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the world needs to be on a war footing". Before a key meeting of the World Trade Organization next week on the anniversary of the declaration of the pandemic, he supports a patent waiver that would allow countries to make and sell cheap copies of vaccines that were invented elsewhere.