The latest episode of Radical Imagination takes a fresh look at how the US patent system keeps billions of people at home and abroad from obtaining life-saving medicines as Covid-19 continues to sweep the world and most countries, especially in the global South, struggle to access vaccines.

Since our first episode on this topic, early in the pandemic, the situation has become more dire. At the beginning of this year, the WHO Director-General indicated that three-quarters of Covid-19 vaccinations were in just 10 countries that account for almost 60 percent of global GDP, while around 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, had not yet administered a single dose. This was in large part due to patent restrictions that ensured that only the wealthiest countries were able to procure vaccines. The idea behind patents is to allow companies to protect the time and money they invest in developing drugs and vaccines. In reality, companies profit astronomically while people die because they can’t afford or obtain treatment. An intellectual property waiver would help lower income countries like India and South Africa produce more vaccines and make them more widely available.

Lawyer and activist Priti Krishtel, who was first featured in Season 2 for her leadership of a movement to change the patent system and ensure access to medicine for all, returns for a follow-up conversation with host Angela Glover Blackwell on the global implications of structural inequity in the development and distribution of medicines. We also hear from Leena Menghaney, South Asia head of the Doctors Without Borders Access Campaign. 

Radical Imagination is available on all podcast platforms. Listen, subscribe, and share widely, and look out for upcoming Clubhouse conversations in which you will be able to interact with the host and guest.