5. Balancing the Rights of Vaccine Patent Owners and the Community’s Right to Access Vaccines: Some Solutions for Improving Vietnam’s Intellectual Property Law

Patent protection in the pharmaceutical industry in general and in the field of vaccine development in particular can be considered a privilege for patent owners. Patent owners have exclusive rights to exploit the protected objects in order to able to recover their initial investment and efforts. However, the balance between the rights of patent owners and the rights of community to access vaccines is a controversial issue. This study analyzes and makes some comments about the relationship between the vaccine patent protection and the public health. The study also presents Vietnamese and international regulations about this issue. Based on the study’s findings, some solutions are proposed to improve Vietnam’s regulations on intellectual property protection.