Human rights law can provide a fair, transparent framework for vaccine allocations
Social determinants of health become an important factor in determining whether certain populations are more vulnerable than others.
, Associate Editor
As governments around the world wrestle with the question of designing a fair system to allocate their COVID-19 vaccine supplies for maximum protection against the pandemic, a team of researchers, led by Dr. Sharifah Sekalala of Warwick Law School, proposes that existing human rights legal principles should guide their thinking.
All 171 governments have signed at least one human rights treaty recognizing that people have the right to life and health – but how can this guide decisions on vaccine distribution when demand outstrips supply?