Two years into the pandemic, unequal access to COVID-19 treatments threatens the global recovery, say public health experts

14 March, 2022: Writing in The Conversation, public health experts Dr Deborah Gleeson and Brigitte Tenni have decried continuing vaccine inequity as the world marks the second anniversary of the COVID19 pandemic. They write:

“Negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 health products and technologies, underway for almost 18 months, are still in a state of paralysis. And there is a risk that any agreement reached at the WTO might only apply to vaccines, leaving treatments unavailable or unaffordable for around half the global population.”

“Two years into the pandemic, it’s well past time for a global solution that provides access to all the products and technologies the world needs to manage COVID-19.”

Dr Deborah Gleeson is an Associate Professor in Public Health at La Trobe University, and she holds the role of Co-convenor of the Political Economy of Health Special Interest Group of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).

Brigitte Tenni is a Senior Technical Advisor – HIV at The Nossal Institute for Global Health, and a PhD candidate at La Trobe University and The University of Melbourne

• The full article can be read here.