Editing Bill Gates (section)

=== Patents for COVID-19 vaccines ===
{{Main|TRIPS Agreement waiver}}

In April 2021, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], Gates was criticized for suggesting that pharmaceutical companies should hold onto patents for [[COVID-19 vaccines]]. The criticism came due to the possibility of this preventing poorer nations from obtaining adequate vaccines. Tara Van Ho of the [[University of Essex]] stated, "Gates speaks as if all the lives being lost in India are inevitable but eventually the West will help when in reality the US & UK are holding their feet on the neck of developing states by refusing to break [intellectual property rights] protections. It's disgusting."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bill-gates-covid-vaccines-countries-b1837884.html|title=Bill Gates under fire for saying vaccine formulas shouldn't be shared with developing world|last=Kilander|first=Gustaf|date=April 26, 2021|website=[[The Independent]]|location=Washington, D.C.|publication-place=London|language=en|access-date=May 20, 2021|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426202507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bill-gates-covid-vaccines-countries-b1837884.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gates is opposed to the [[TRIPS waiver]].<ref name="observer">{{cite news |last1=Cao |first1=Sissi |title=Bill Gates' Comments On COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Draw Outrage |url=https://observer.com/2021/04/bill-gates-oppose-lifting-covid-vaccine-patent-interview/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |work=Observer |date=April 28, 2021 |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102050002/https://observer.com/2021/04/bill-gates-oppose-lifting-covid-vaccine-patent-interview/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="apartheid">{{cite news |last1=Allison |first1=Simon |title=Bill Gates, Big Pharma and entrenching the vaccine apartheid |url=https://mg.co.za/coronavirus-essentials/2021-01-30-bill-gates-big-pharma-and-entrenching-the-vaccine-apartheid/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |work=The Mail & Guardian |date=January 30, 2021 |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102050004/https://mg.co.za/coronavirus-essentials/2021-01-30-bill-gates-big-pharma-and-entrenching-the-vaccine-apartheid/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=colonialism>{{cite news |last1=Mookim |first1=Mohit |title=The World Loses Under Bill Gates' Vaccine Colonialism |url=https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bill-gates-vaccine-colonialism/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |magazine=Wired |date=May 19, 2021 |archive-date=December 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224153605/https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bill-gates-vaccine-colonialism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Bloomberg News]] reported him as saying he argued that Oxford University should not give away the rights to its COVID-19 information, as it had announced, but instead sell it to a single industry partner, as it did.<ref name="oxford_pledge">{{cite news |last1=Hancock |first1=Jay |title=They Pledged to Donate Rights to Their COVID Vaccine, Then Sold Them to Pharma |url=https://khn.org/news/rather-than-give-away-its-covid-vaccine-oxford-makes-a-deal-with-drugmaker/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |work=Kaiser Health News |date=August 25, 2020 |archive-date=February 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207230036/https://khn.org/news/rather-than-give-away-its-covid-vaccine-oxford-makes-a-deal-with-drugmaker/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His views on the value of [[government-granted monopoly|legal monopolies]] in medicine have been linked to his views on legal monopolies in software.<ref name="apartheid" /><ref name=colonialism />