COVID-19 has wreaked havoc around the globe. It has taken the lives of millions and shattered countless families. In order to combat the virus and preserve lives, several kinds of vaccinations have been developed. Even though vaccinations have been available for a year, many countries are unable to vaccinate their citizens with a single dose, whereas wealthy countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Israel have vaccinated about half of their citizens. At the core of this disparity is the practice of “vaccine nationalism”.
VACCINE NATIONALISM: DISCRIMINATION AGAINST POOR COUNTRIES
Vaccine nationalism occurs when a country prioritises its citizens for vaccinations by purchasing vaccines in their nascent stages of clinical development even before they are available on the market. Rich countries like the US, UK, and Canada have received enough vaccines to vaccinate their citizens four times over. There is a huge contrast between vaccinations in poor countries and rich countries. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has established the COVAX programme to offer vaccinations to poorer countries, Africa, home to 1.3 billion people, is experiencing a shortage of one billion vaccine doses. It has received vaccines that could inoculate merely two percent of its population. The vaccine disparity is so stark that countries that are home to just 14 percent of the world’s population have received 53 percent of the vaccines manufactured.
The United Kingdom has ordered 500 million doses, which amounts to eight vaccines per citizen. The US has made agreements with various pharma companies to buy 1.3 billion doses of vaccines. Australia has agreed to receive 170 million doses, enough to vaccinate its entire population about seven times. Ten countries have accounted for more than 75 percent of global vaccinations. Vaccine nationalism has led to discrimination against poor countries. Wealthy nations are hoarding large doses of vaccines, thereby depriving poor countries of vaccinations.
IMPLICATIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in one of its statements said that “affordable, non-discriminatory access to the vaccine is a human right”. Depriving poor countries of vaccination is a flagrant breach of the right to health, which is a cornerstone of international human rights. Articles 25 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) recognise the right to health as a basic fundamental right. This is also enshrined in the preamble of the Constitution of the World Health Organization. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) recognises that every person has the right to enjoy “the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”. It also calls upon the state parties to this Covenant to take necessary steps to control epidemics and diseases. Despite this, rich countries, which are also a party to the Covenant, have failed to comply with their obligations.
Universal vaccination is an inseparable part of the right to health. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the treaty body that oversees implementation of the ICESCR, in General Comment No. 14 explains that states shall make “joint efforts to, inter alia, make available relevant technologies, using and improving epidemiological surveillance and data collection on a disaggregated basis, the implementation or enhancement of immunization programmes and other strategies of infectious disease control".
Furthermore, article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) enshrines the right to life. General Comment No. 36 of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), the treaty body overseeing implementation of the ICCPR, calls upon states to take necessary action to provide access to life-saving medicines and essential health care without any delay for the enjoyment of the right to life. Recently, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, described the disparity of vaccinations between rich and poor countries as “vaccine apartheid,” in which countries are deprived of vaccines based on their financial status and political power.
Vaccine nationalism can have a wide range of negative repercussions. Not only is this type of vaccine procurement by wealthy countries a violation of international human rights, but it also puts the entire human population at risk. The vaccination of people in just developed countries will never be enough to ward off an ongoing pandemic, and there could even be an increase in COVID-19 cases in the unvaccinated population. This will simply extend the outbreak, resulting in further loss of human life as well as financial loss. The only solution to prevent the pandemic from persisting is to devise an efficient method of distributing vaccine doses to the entire human population without any discrimination on the basis of the financial resources or political strength of a country.
Sriansh Jaiswal is a 3rd year BA.LLB. student at Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow. He takes keen interest in International Law and Human Rights Law.
Ananya Kumar is a 3rd year BA LLB student at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. She is passionate about International Law and Human Rights Law.