We Cannot Win the Access to Medicines Struggle Using the Same Thinking That Causes the Chronic Access Crisis.

Publisher: Harvard School of Public Health, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9502498 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2150-4113 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10790969 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Health Hum Rights Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Boston, MA : Harvard School of Public Health, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, c1994-

COVID-19* ; Health Services Accessibility* ; Human Rights*; COVID-19 Vaccines/*supply & distribution; Humans

The inequity in access to COVID-19 vaccines that we are witnessing today is yet another symptom of a pharmaceutical economy that is not fit for purpose. That it was possible to develop multiple COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year, while at the same time fostering extreme inequities, calls for transformative change in the health innovation and access ecosystem. Brought into the spotlight through the AIDS drugs access crisis, challenges in accessing lifesaving medicines and vaccines-because they are either not available or inaccessible due to excessive pricing-are being faced by people all over the world. To appreciate the underlying framing of current access discussions, it is important to understand past trends in global health policies and the thinking behind the institutions and mechanisms that were designed to solve access problems. Contrary to what might be expected, certain types of solutions intrinsically carry the conditions that enable scarcity, rationing, and inequity, and lead us away from ensuring the right to health. Analyzing the root causes of access problems and the political economy that allows them to persist and even become exacerbated is necessary to fix access inequities today and to design better solutions to ensure equitable access to health technologies in the future.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.
(Copyright © 2021 Krikorian and Torreele.)

Front Pharmacol. 2019 Jul 19;10:763. (PMID: 31379565)
Health Hum Rights. 2000;5(1):149-79. (PMID: 11154527)
J Int AIDS Soc. 2015 Nov 13;18:20305. (PMID: 26568056)
J Glob Health. 2020 Jun;10(1):010358. (PMID: 32509289)
Open AIDS J. 2010 Jan 19;4:37-40. (PMID: 20309404)
Lancet. 2002 Nov 30;360(9347):1710-1. (PMID: 12480418)
BMJ. 2020 Jan 13;368:l4627. (PMID: 31932289)
AIDS. 2007 Jul;21 Suppl 4:S21-9. (PMID: 17620749)
Nat Biotechnol. 2017 Jun;35(6):507-513. (PMID: 28581491)
Bull World Health Organ. 2020 Sep 1;98(9):641-643. (PMID: 33012865)
BMJ Glob Health. 2023 Jan;8(1):. (PMID: 36650015)
BMJ Glob Health. 2020 Aug;5(8):. (PMID: 32759186)
Trends Biotechnol. 2018 Dec;36(12):1211-1218. (PMID: 30220578)
PLoS Med. 2015 May 11;12(5):e1001831. (PMID: 25962119)
Health Econ Policy Law. 2013 Apr;8(2):185-208. (PMID: 23343639)
Global Health. 2011 Sep 29;7:33. (PMID: 21958478)

0 (COVID-19 Vaccines)

Date Created: 20210701 Date Completed: 20210727 Latest Revision: 20240402

20240402

PMC8233016

34194206