If, like me, you think it was never a good idea for the government to tell N − 1 companies to wait 20 years before they can manufacture life-saving vaccines (this is what a patent is), then you should care about alternatives.
Patents are not the core of what prevents companies from developing life saving vaccines unless the government only allows patent protected vaccines to be sold which is effectively the case at the moment. There are many different non-patent protected ways to get a bunch of spike proteins into a person so that they produce antibodies against the virus.
Even when it comes to patent protected vaccines it’s possible for other companies to produce them. They just have to pay royalities for the patent and there are plenty of such deals made.
Patents are not the core of what prevents companies from developing life saving vaccines unless the government only allows patent protected vaccines to be sold which is effectively the case at the moment. There are many different non-patent protected ways to get a bunch of spike proteins into a person so that they produce antibodies against the virus.
Even when it comes to patent protected vaccines it’s possible for other companies to produce them. They just have to pay royalities for the patent and there are plenty of such deals made.