International Responsibility and public goods in Pandemics
Ethico-political analysis of the case of the COVID vaccine as a public good, and its implications for the protection of other essential public goods
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35305/cf2.vi18.146Keywords:
COVID-19, pandemics, healthAbstract
The aim of this paper will focus on the ethical analysis of the general problem of international responsibility in the protection of public goods in pandemics, taking as a paradigmatic case the access to the COVID vaccine. Our hypothesis revolves around showing the international responsibility for damage (of the powers and of the industry towards low and middle income countries) in the access and distribution of the aforementioned vaccine, evidencing how this "covert privatization of public goods" rests on an unjustified patent system that generates the continuity of the pandemic and the speculative trade of prices. This system extends to the network of public goods essential to the health of our populations (water, biodiversity, land, climate, knowledge). The methodology chosen consists of a critical study of patent law (TRIPS, 1994) and the ethics and political analysis of international liability for damages applied to the pandemic situation (Pogge, 2007, 2005). The paper is divided into four sections. First (II), the origin of the COVID vaccine will be analyzed, establishing its character as a public good. Secondly (III), it will investigate the conflict between patents (TRIPS) and the human right to health from the TRIPS Agreement, questioning the patent system. Thirdly (IV), the philosophical arguments raised by Pogge against TRIPS will be examined, using them for the analysis of the abuse of dominant power of developed countries at the distribution level (COVAX). Fourthly (V), as an alternative proposal, some theoretical guidelines will be outlined, inspired by a redefined concept of "social connection" (Young, 2005), but applied to affected groups and countries with violated rights. It will be proposed to strengthen collective and participatory actions for the protection of public goods (medicines/tests/vaccines, water, land, biodiversity, knowledge) and the development of open science, technological and sanitary sovereignty, from the integral care of health and under a human rights framework with a gender perspective. This topic deserves to be deepened in future research.
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