Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccine: Voices from International Human Rights Law

COVID-19 pandemic has left the international community in the doldrums. While everyone is trying to live with the pandemic, there is hope that vaccine will lead to normalcy. However, hegemony exists in access to resources (vaccines) in the current setup of trade and commerce as the third world countries lack the power to procure the vaccine and bargaining power in diplomatic relations. A brief introduction of the general hegemony and the importance of a human rights prism for analysing the access to vaccines is given in the first segment of this reseach paper. The hegemony in access to resources along with the New International Economic Order is analysed the second segment of the research paper. The vaccines are usually analysed from trade and commerce perspective. Nevertheless, they are also a matter of human right during the times of COVID-19. The objective of this paper is to establish the necessity of the COVID-19 vaccine as human rights, in furtherance of which the third portion of the research paper dwells into human rights treaties like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in recognising access to healthcare as a human right. It is supplemented with multiple cases like Viceconte, Mariela Cecilia v. Argentinian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. These treaties and cases have recognised access to vaccination in times of an epidemic as human rights. Further, in the third segment of the paper, the authors analyse the role of the World Health Organisation in ensuring equitable access to the vaccine. The authors contend in the course of the research that the World Health Organisation has developed the ‘Health for All’ scheme, which was an impressive initiative, but with weak implementation. In the fourth segment of the paper, the authors analyse the current situation of access to the vaccine. It is supplemented with the Oxfam Report which elaborates on the unequal access of the vaccine so far. Further, the access of non-citizens like the refugees and stateless people is advanced. Furthermore, it is argued that the World Health Organisation cannot afford to be on the side-lines and need to act hand-in-glove with the States and human rights enforcement agencies. In the fifth portion of the paper, the authors espouse the need for a new and revised convention in the lines of the New International Economic Order. These issues and recommendations are vital, considering our current position, where we need a vaccine more than ever.