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Decolonising human rights: how intellectual property laws result in unequal access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Sekalala, Sharifah; Forman, Lisa; Hodgson, Timothy; Mulumba, Moses; Namyalo-Ganafa, Hadijah; Meier, Benjamin Mason.
  • Sekalala S; Warwick Law School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK sharifah.sekalala@warwick.ac.uk.
  • Forman L; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • Hodgson T; International Commission of Jurists, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Mulumba M; Center for Health, Human Rights and Development, Kampala, Uganda.
  • Namyalo-Ganafa H; School of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
  • Meier BM; Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
BMJ Glob Health ; 6(7)2021 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1307894
ABSTRACT
The recent rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines offers hope in addressing the worst pandemic in a hundred years. However, many countries in the Global South face great difficulties in accessing vaccines, partly because of restrictive intellectual property law. These laws exacerbate both global and domestic inequalities and prevent countries from fully realising the right to health for all their people. Commodification of essential medicines, such as vaccines, pushes poorer countries into extreme debt and reproduces national inequalities that discriminate against marginalised groups. This article explains how a decolonial framing of human rights and public health could contribute to addressing this systemic injustice. We envisage a human rights and global health law framework based on solidarity and international cooperation that focuses funding on long-term goals and frees access to medicines from the restrictions of intellectual property law. This would increase domestic vaccine production, acquisition and distribution capabilities in the Global South.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Vaccines / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Randomized controlled trials Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Language: English Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Bmjgh-2021-006169

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Vaccines / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Randomized controlled trials Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Language: English Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Bmjgh-2021-006169