I would just point out that Moderna, one of the two companies that independently developed mRNA vaccines, did the final development, upscaling from tens of doses to millions, and both safety and efficacy studies using US taxpayer dollars.

I don't particularly begrudge them the billions of dollars they are making from an investment that we made, but if they're not willing to license their patents to 3rd world manufacturers, I don't see why the US should protect those patents.

Oh, and the only thing I've heard about Omicron is a SA health minister saying that they haven't seen an increase in fatality rates - so maybe it's not as bad as we think it might be(?) BUT that doesn't change my opinion about patents.

If anyone has SA fatality rates, I'd be curious to see them...