India today reported a world record in new coronavirus cases.

The number was 414,188 new cases, probably an undercount.

And at the same time, vaccinations in India are down.

They're the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer.

There's a shortage of shots.

Just over 2% of the country is fully vaccinated.

On the other side of the world, COVID is surging in South America,

Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil are all hitting record numbers of cases,

and none of them have even 10% of their populations fully vaccinated.

All the while in the United States,

we're blowing past vaccination goals and breaking out the short shorts

to head into a sort of maybe normal summer,

which helps you understand why people have been clamoring

for Western leaders to make their vaccines more accessible to the world.

And vaccine patents are seen as one of the biggest barriers.

So for months, countries mostly low-income ones have said,

lift the patents and let the generic vaccines flow

out of every pharmaceutical factory possible on the planet,

which was why Biden's announcement this week was such a big deal.

The announcement is that the Biden administration has carried out

what is essentially a 180-degree turn in U.S. policy,

and it is now going to back a suggestion at the World Trade Organization

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