The race for a vaccine for COVID19 is a regular feature of the airways and newsprint since the outbreak of the pandemic in February and March this year. But what will happen after an effective vaccine is developed - do these headlines inform us of the processes and frameworks underpinning future vaccine production and how vaccines will be accessed by a global population?
A global pandemic, by definition, affects all humans on the planet. Yet wealthy nations representing just 13% of the world's population have already captured, via advance purchase agreements, most promised vaccine doses. Alongside the deep injustice of this, there are other questions around who gets to hold intellectual property rights related to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics, and what such rights will mean for access to these in the Covid-19 context. What does it mean for global health or notions of solidarity when medicines, diagnostics and vaccines are legal private property? How is public funding towards the development costs of such Covid-19 vaccine/medicines reflected in intellectual property rights over proven vaccines/medicines arising? And what is being done to challenge these deep-rooted inequalities?
Join Comhlámh and the Department of International Development in Maynooth as we continue our new season of #FirstWeds conversations. Our panel of health practitioners, patent experts and patient advocates help explain what lines behind the headlines of vaccine development and delivery during this pandemic
Tune into Comhlamh's YouTube channel Wednesday 4th November at 7pm