NBC NEWS: Wave of 'vaccine nationalism' hinders global efforts to halt coronavirus

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However, in this unprecedented situation, where a vaccine could prevent a country's economic collapse, governments might resort to more desperate measures. One tactic might be to ignore patents covering the drugs and manufacture them without consent, according to Søren Holm, a professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester, in England.

That's what South Africa did with HIV/AIDS medicine in the 1990s, ultimately forcing drug companies into a humiliating climbdown in which they licensed the medication at a lower price.

"It showed that these types of threats tend to work," Holm said.