"It’s interesting to reflect that the industry brought five different vaccines in record time, all of those based on a certain degree of innovation (...). Next time around, we have to be lucky again that somebody else has invested in some science that is ready to be used. We also scaled up manufacturing in record time, so that billions of doses were basically available for the whole world. (...)

Still, there is a political agenda in the Western world to feel maybe some sort of bad conscience and they are proposing to waver IP rights in future situations. I get a bit emotional because I think this is politics at its worst, as it’s not helping anyone. It’s actually destroying the incentive to make the next version of vaccine or cure we all need."