The COVID-19 vaccines race: the right to health at stake
COVID-19 is a legitimate issue of global scale and for the protection of human rights. The pandemic has effects that go beyond national borders and impacts negatively on people’s lives and livelihoods. As of January 31, it had taken away 2,209,195 lives worldwide and infected at least 102,083,344 people. At the moment, no country is COVID-19 free, and the only hope seems to be the fast-paced hunt of vaccines. However, for the vaccines to be successful, they must be universally available, accessible, and affordable. Yet, there are enormous obstacles for vaccines to become a public good that protects the right to health and allows economies to reopen and life to resume worldwide.
One of the main risks for universal access to the COVID-19 vaccines is the existing inequality in medical science and healthcare systems between the Global North and Global South countries. Financial or technological limitations had exposed poorer States to higher risks of COVID-19 than elsewhere. For instance, the OECD documented that almost 75% of the population In low-income countries lacks access to necessities like clean water and soap, which are considered the most important deterrent of the COVID-19 disease. In contrast, about 4.1 million people (83% of all population) in New Zealand, a country that went 24 days without a single COVID-19 case, were served water from registered drinking-water supplies during 2018 and 2019.
Given the low fiscal space in Global South countries, their immediate ability to augment public healthcare expenditure is minimal, so acquiring the vaccine seems complicated. Whatsmore, the pandemic adverse economic impact caused by lockdowns is hitting public budgets hard, particularly in low-income States. Rich countries have taken advantage of this and have purchased doses of future vaccines in advance. The process of advance purchasing is well established in the pharmaceutical sector, boosting production and fund trials. Nevertheless, it is counterproductive for the least-developed States because it allows whoever can pay the most at the earliest to secure as much as possible. For instance, in December 2020, OXFAM stated that “rich countries have enough doses to vaccinate everyone nearly three times over, whilst poor countries don’t even have enough even to reach health workers and people at risk”.
Not only countries that are in an advantageous financial position have secured vaccines. The middle-income States use their manufacturing capacity or infrastructure to host clinical trials to negotiate purchase agreements with pharmaceuticals as part of vaccine deals. However, production is limited. For this reason, the prioritisation of access to vaccines by specific groups is inevitable, at least in the first stages, not only domestically but also internationally. Nonetheless, developed countries are scheduling up all their population first. As of January 30, most of the 80.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered worldwide have gone to citizens of only a handful of high- and middle-income countries (These are: the USA, China, the EU, the UK, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates).
Besides the vaccine nationalism, international legal regimes protecting pharmaceutical corporations are making the COVID-19 vaccines inaccessible to Global South countries because of the cost structures. Intellectual property protection benefits companies. Logically, the private sector expects to obtain a profit and wants to receive reasonable compensation for their investments and research. Under this intellectual property regime, patents allow vaccines to be priced higher and be harder to replicate in lower-cost ways. Something similar happened when the HIV pandemic started. Back in the 80s, the medicines’ price to treat HIV was over $10,000 USD per person for one year, because of patent monopolies. People worldwide died because they could not afford the high prices businesses charged for these medicines. A civil society movement advocated and convinced both pharmaceuticals and governments in overcoming monopolies. The action resulted in a price drop of 99% in HIV medicines. Still, the international community has not yet achieved a consensus to waive intellectual property provisions to the COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
In conclusion, the COVID-19 vaccine race’s current scenario is putting the human right to health at stake. States are failing to address their obligation of international assistance and cooperation under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Director-General of the World Health Organization and the UN Secretary-General have all called to strengthen international cooperation to guarantee that vaccines are available, accessible and affordable globally. The distribution of vaccines and the prioritisation of access should be organised and supported by global solidarity. Sharing the benefits of scientific progress and its applications to all people is an obligation under International Human Rights Law. Ultimately, countries must withdraw from nationalism when acquiring the vaccine since, in this case, it contradicts human rights standards.
Specifically, countries must develop strategies and mechanisms for a fair distribution of the financial costs associated with research and the production and distribution of vaccines to achieve “people’s vaccine”, as the UN Secretary-General had called it. States must implement initiatives to reduce the debt burden for countries that need it. Otherwise, the least developed countries will continue in disproportionate disadvantage. Also, businesses should consider not applying for patents for insignificant modifications of existing treatments and issuing non-exclusive voluntary licences abroad and nationally. Under the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, it is a human rights obligation for businesses. Furthermore, the companies must consider all the arrangements at its disposal to ensure that its medicines are affordable to as many people as possible, ensuring respect to the UN Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights.
Sources:
WHO (31 January 2021). WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard. Available at: https://covid19.who.int/
Bhattacharya, Debapriya and Raida Islam, Fareha (23 April 2020). The COVID-19 Scourge: How affected are the Least Developed Countries?. Available at: https://oecd-development-matters.org/2020/04/23/the-covid-19-scourge-how-affected-are-the-least-developed-countries/
New Zealand Ministry of Health (2020). Annual Report on Drinking-water Quality 2018–2019. Available at: https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/annual-report-drinking-water-quality-2016-2017
Amnesty International (9 December 2020). Campaigners warn that 9 out of 10 people in poor countries are set to miss out on COVID-19 vaccine next year. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/12/campaigners-warn-that-9-out-of-10-people-in-poor-countries-are-set-to-miss-out-on-covid-19-vaccine-next-year/
Our World Data (27 January 2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations. Available at: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
Médecins Sans Frontières (18 November 2020). India and South Africa proposal for WTO waiver from intellectual property protections for COVID-19-related medical technologies. Available at: https://msfaccess.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/COVID_Brief_WTO_WaiverProposal_ENG_v2_18Nov2020.pdf
The Times of India (20 January 2021). No consensus at WTO yet on IP waiver on Covid-19 vaccines. Available at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/80372808.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2020). Statement on universal and equitable access to vaccines for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26484&LangID=E
United Nations Secretary-General (3 June 2020). Uniting for a People’s Vaccine Against COVID-19. Available at: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/note-correspondents/2020-06-03/note-correspondents-uniting-for-peoples-vaccine-against-covid-19
