Building global solidarity in a permacrisis: lessons learned from the Covid-19 and future directions for a Pandemic Treaty

One of the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of being prepared for the worst-case scenario. COVID-19 has shown the fragility and inequity of the global health system and the need for global solidarity and collaboration to deal with health crises in an age of complex and interconnected crises (permacrisis). The World Health Organization (WHO) is negotiating a  draft of the Pandemic Treaty that aims to promote prevention, preparedness, and response to pandemics. The Pandemic Treaty also aims to promote sustainable and equitable production and transfer of technology and know-how. This is especially relevant to the intellectual property of vaccines and other pandemic-related products, which was a challenging topic during the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for legal measures to improve fair access to vaccines, medicines and other therapeutic products for the next health crisis is an issue under negotiation in the pandemic treaty.
Dr Mina Hosseini presented her paper at the Royal Irish Academy Conference (Human (in) security in an unsettled World) on May 2, 2023. She examined the key principles in the zero draft of the treaty on pandemic preparedness and response, including human rights aspects, access to vaccines and other health products, state sovereignty, data sharing, transparency, IP and competition law aspects, accountability and the role of the WHO in implementing the treaty. She also highlighted the recent principles and issues under negotiation in the Pandemic Treaty and discussed their implications for global health governance, human rights, IP and competition law. By analysing the zero draft of the treaty, she shed light on the potential outcomes and challenges of implementing a global treaty for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe MSCA programme under grant agreement No. 101061575.