Dr Aisling McMahon has published a timely article in RTE Brainstorm which outlines the disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines globally, and why global equitable access to vaccines is urgently needed.
The People’s Vaccine Alliance recently indicated that 9 in 10 people in 67 low-income and lower middle-income countries are not expected to obtain access to vaccines in 2021, and many people in such countries will have to wait until much later. Whilst, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) recently described the inequalities around access to COVID-19 vaccine globally as a putting the world on the brink of "catastrophic moral failure".
Moreover, global equitable access to vaccines is needed to bring the pandemic under control. Failure to provide global access to vaccines risks outbreaks of COVID-19 re-emerging in countries through travel. Whilst, prolonging Covid-19 prevalence anywhere risks new variants of Covid-19 emerging which may be resistant to current vaccines, thereby jeopardising attempts to bring the pandemic under control. The article outlines international mechanisms which could be used to increase the supplies of vaccines available globally, such as the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP). The C-TAP sets up a voluntary platform to encourage the sharing of intellectual property rights, data, know-how and biological samples etc in the spirit of solidarity, to enable more manufacturers to make vaccines thereby increasing manufacturing capacity globally, and hence supplies. However, it is vital that more countries, including Ireland, formally endorse and support the C-TAP as soon as possible.
Dr McMahon is an Assistant Professor of Law in Maynooth University Department of Law where her research specialises in intellectual property and medical law. She has published widely in these fields, including a recent article in the Journal of Medical Ethics examining the role of patent holders in the context of global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and diagnostics. Her teaching includes modules on Contemporary Issues in Medicine and the Law and on Patents, Health and Biotechnologies.