India, Dec. 9 -- Intellectual property rightscan act as a barrier against wide access to vaccines, treatments for the novel coronavirus disease

Governments were relieved, vastly so. Media gushed. Pharma companies were elated and rushed to book profits. The development of three vaccines against the SARS-COV-2 in a record time of a year and less is, indeed, one for the history books. But as the hurrahs die down, elation is being replaced by the more sobering thought that although the success of Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna and Astra Zeneca could be a turning point in the pandemic, the world has a long, long way to go before it can breathe easy.

By now, everyone knows the bulk of the vaccines will go to the rich world, thanks to estimates made...