Public Support for the Waiver of Medical Patents: Evidence from a Global Survey

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the global inequality in access to vaccines. To address this problem, developing countries such as India and South Africa called for a patent waiver on COVID-19 vaccines to enable a more equal distribution. However, wealthy countries from the Global North have blocked such initiatives at the World Trade Organization, arguing that patents provide important incentives for research and development, thereby stimulating innovation and scientific breakthroughs. However, to what extent do these logics persuade voters? While previous research has primarily studied the willingness of citizens in rich countries to donate vaccine doses to developing countries at the height of the pandemic, public preferences regarding the waiver of medical patents remain unclear. Against this backdrop, we investigate citizens’ attitudes towards medical patents in a global sample of citizens from potential donor and recipient countries (Argentina, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Africa, Sweden and the US) collected in fall 2023. We find substantial shares of supporters and opponents of patent waivers in all nine countries, including India and South Africa, whose governments are the most prominent advocates of waivers. Both in rich and in developing countries, support for patent waivers is explained by citizens’ position on the socio-cultural GAL-TAN (green/alternative/libertarian vs. traditionalist/authoritarian/nationalist) dimension rather than by their economic ideology and domestic redistributive preferences. In particular, respondents who prioritise environmental protection over economic growth are also more supportive of abolishing medical patents despite potential adverse effects on future investment in research and development. Moreover, support for patent waivers is higher among altruists and individuals with a disposition for "strong reciprocity".