Last week, the World Health Organization reported some 5.7 million new cases of COVID-19, a jump of 8 percent from the previous week and the highest number yet recorded. Driven heavily by the surge of new cases in India, it’s a reminder that the pandemic’s end is probably still far away for many outside the affluent West, and that nothing short of unprecedented international cooperation will be sufficient to avert a humanitarian disaster.

Despite plenty of hot air from corporate executives and world leaders, such cooperation really hasn’t occurred — and can’t until the global effort to eradicate the virus overrides the preferences of pharmaceutical companies and the national governments currently prioritizing their profits.

As the Washington Post reported last week, the two may be finally coming to a head within the Biden administration as officials at least privately consider the possibility of waiving current patent rules so vaccines can be produced more widely. Predictably enough, drug companies and their apologists have issued the standard roster of self-interested talking points to justify patent hoarding — each of which can quite easily be dispensed with. Truth be told, it’s difficult to imagine a starker conflict between the interests of profit-driven pharmaceutical giants and the global public good than the current battle over vaccines and intellectual property.