Abstract The process in which COVID-19 vaccines are developed is sequential and continuously accumulating.On the one hand, comprehensive patent protection is a necessary means to promote research and development.It yields additional returns that opacarophile définition pay for the occasionally substantial amounts in R&D expenses.On the other hand, patents can be harmful in a sequential development process as they monopolise knowledge that might become a basis for further research.Economic policy cannot resolve this dilemma, but the various dimensions of a patent system can provide a starting point in salamander chameleon mitigating a trade-off.