Britain is among a host of countries resisting calls led by US President Joe Biden and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines to be waived to boost jab rates in poorer countries.
Those backing the waiver including Harry and Meghan say it would allow poorer countries to produce the jabs for themselves - but many countries are resisting it amid concerns it would hit competition and the overall fight against the pandemic.
The UK has been in closed-door talks at the World Trade Organization in recent months along with the likes of Australia, Canada, Japan, Norway, Singapore, the European Union and the US, who all opposed the idea.
But President Joe Biden reversed course on Wednesday and called for a waiver - allowing other firms to copy and produce the vaccine without being sued - a move backed by humanitarian groups worried about vaccines being distributed so far primarily to the wealthy countries that made them.
UK ministers are keen to stay out of the patents row until the shape of any plan becomes clearer. But one UK government source stressed that it was not an issue for AZ.
'The AZ jab, which the UK government has funded with Oxford, is being produced at cost by AZ. That is a vaccine which they will not be making profits on.'
Some free market-supporting MPs have also questioned whether the waiver would be fair on firms that have ploughed billions into research and development (R&D).
Senior Tory Marcus Fysh said that introducing a vaccine waiver on commercially manufactured drugs 'opens up a Pandora's Box of questions about the Government's rights to take patents (held by) private businesses off them if it suits them.'