Calls to waive manufacturers' intellectual property rights

Oxfam are blaming vaccine manufacturers for making huge financial gains during a global health emergency. In the past year Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca paid 26-billion-dollars to their shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks. This has renewed calls for companies' intellectual property rights to be temporarily waived to enable faster vaccine production worldwide. Rachel Le Mesurier is the chief executive of Oxfam New Zealand.