chapotraphouse

No. You don't get to weasel your way out of defending your central argument. You said:

IIRC, the reason was that it wouldn't bring covid vaccines to poor countries in a timely fashion, which would likely result in delays and more death. Pragmatic.

Defending patent exclusivity will bring covid vaccines to poor countries in a timely fashion. This will save lives. Very pragmatic. You said that.

So, why are first dose vaccination rates in poorer countries still less than half of the full vaccination rate in wealthy nations? It's because no timely vaccine deployment occurred. Delays and death were not prevented. Gates' supposed magnanimous goal failed spectacularly by any reasonable measure. The only thing he protected was billions in profits at the expense of human lives.

You also don't understand what a patent waiver even means:

You are still assuming that some third party/parties could/would magic a cheap effective vaccine clone into existence at the time it was most needed and most profitable to do otherwise.

A patent doesn't mean, "Sorry folks! We cured this disease, so nobody else can make their own cure! Too bad, so sad!" It means they've published how to make something, but can legally bar anybody from reproducing their work. It's an instruction manual you aren't allowed to follow, to protect their profits. A patent waiver removes that restriction.

If you do understand that, and are instead arguing that the global South is just too stupid to be able to follow instructions, well... then we fundamentally disagree on the foundations of ethics and humanity, and I don't want to ever speak with you again.