For the past years, our lives have been turned upside down. We stumbled from one lockdown to another. Now, we found cures that could stop the spread, COVID-19 vaccines. This is an enormous progress for the medical field. Normally, vaccine authorization might take up to 10 years, however; for this vaccine, 1 year of research was conducted. The population is now worried and many do not want to get vaccinated because they feel the vaccine will cause more harm than safety by rushing its development. But why did these vaccines get authorized that quickly? What is the difference? Is there a difference?

Not only did the COVID-19 vaccines bring up concerns, but also inequalities. It is a new vaccine, therefore; production mechanisms need time to develop. Of course, high-income countries secured 2/3 of the vaccine quantities. Making it hardily feasible for low-income countries to access the medicine. Low-income countries take up approximately 1.3 billion people, whereas; the countries who purchased the vaccines take up not even half. How is it possible for high-income countries to access the vaccines that easily? Why is the distribution unequal?
This lecture will focus on these issues. More specifically, it will focus on the underlying legal ramifications of the corona-vaccine: authorization procedures, contracts, patents, monopolies, distribution, and IP-rights in general. For this, two guest speakers will be present: Professor Kamperman Sanders, an Intellectual property (IP) law expert at Maastricht University, and Ms. Roettger-Writz, EU pharmaceutical law expert also at Maastricht University. Later on, there will be a Q&A session that will be held where each one can ask questions and discuss their opinions.

This lecture is organized in cooperation with ELSA Maastricht.

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Source : UAEM Maastricht FB page