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“The essence of global health equity is the idea that something so precious as health might be viewed as a right.”1 This beautiful sentiment, a legacy of the inspirational Paul Farmer, powerfully accentuates the evocative Comment published online in the week of his death.2 Arguing persuasively for the waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, the authors' philosophy resonates with the WHO Values Framework for the Allocation and Prioritization of COVID-19 Vaccines' vision that “COVID-19 vaccines must be a global public good”.3 Tragically, COVAX, the revolutionary mechanism for equitably supplying COVID-19 vaccines to everyone, has fallen well short of this ideal. High-income countries (HICs) have failed to adequately contribute financially and thus guarantee universal vaccine access, and in an attempt to encourage greater HIC participation, double-standard vaccination targets (20% for low-income and middle-income countries [LMICs] and 50% for HICs) were introduced in the COVAX self-financing mechanism.4 Wealthy countries have hoarded vaccine doses through bilateral deals with multiple manufacturers. This vaccine nationalism resulted in perverse wastage of expired vaccines, and by January, 2022, less than 10% of LMIC populations had received a single dose of any COVID-19 vaccine.5 This two-tier global vaccine roll-out probably delivered the omicron variant, and the resulting HIC booster roll-out further aggravated the coverage disparity with LMICs.

Wealthy countries have hoarded vaccine doses through bilateral deals with multiple manufacturers. This vaccine nationalism resulted in perverse wastage of expired vaccines, and by January, 2022, less than 10% of LMIC populations had received a single dose of any COVID-19 vaccine.5 This two-tier global vaccine roll-out probably delivered the omicron variant, and the resulting HIC booster roll-out further aggravated the coverage disparity with LMICs. For all countries' sakes, HICs' donations remain essential to accelerate LMIC vaccine access, while intellectual property disputes continue. With further immune-escape variants an inevitable consequence of selfishness, global solidarity and equity must eclipse national interest.