Toggle open close The world is still reeling from the novel coronavirus that emerged from Wuhan, China, more than one year ago. The most effective mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been created and manufactured (in record time) by U.S. companies (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson), and a clear majority of grateful Americans have now been inoculated with them. Meanwhile, much of the developing world is still in desperate need of vaccines, and Americans naturally want to help. The question is how. In early May, the Biden Administration said it would support the deliberate waiver of international intellectual property rights (IPR) protections for American-made COVID-19 vaccines.REF The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement is the global mechanism to protect member countries’ IPR. The Administration wants to waive TRIPS protectionREF for U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines and allow countries to issue “compulsory licenses”REF to permit their domestic pharmaceutical companies to manufacture drugs invented and patented by (in this case) U.S. companies—without adequate compensation to them.