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COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Infringement? The Battle Between Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech Continues

Bill of Health

More broadly, BioNTech and Pfizer highlight Moderna’s surreptitious conduct of obtaining its mRNA patents without disclosing the government’s role in its funding and development. Indeed, as made public, the U.S. government committed more than one billion dollars to Moderna for development of its COVID-19 vaccines.

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Non-State Actors and Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

By Rossella De Falco Strong, well-coordinated and resilient public health care services play a vital role in preventing and responding to public health crises. What are, however, the specific legal and ethical implications of involving private actors in health care vis-à-vis public health emergencies?

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Conclusion to the Symposium: From Principles to Practice: Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

While receiving significant global traction and acceptance since their publication in 1985, the Siracusa Principles, the authors argue, proved to be simply “unequal to the task” of guiding States’ conduct in the context of COVID-19 because they are “unable to speak in any significant detail to the particular concerns of public health crises.”

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Human Rights Principles in Public Health Emergencies: From the Siracusa Principles to COVID-19 and Beyond

Bill of Health

One of us (LG) was involved in the drafting of the Siracusa Principles, which have become the chief international instrument governing permissible human rights limitations during national emergencies. The inadequacy of Siracusa in the the context of public health emergencies Then came COVID-19.

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No Take-Backs: Moderna’s Attempt to Renege on its Vaccine Patent Pledge

Bill of Health

On October 8, 2020, Moderna, the maker of one of the first mRNA-based vaccines for COVID-19 and the recipient of billions of dollars of U.S. government funding, announced that it felt “a special obligation … to use our resources to bring this pandemic to an end as quickly as possible.” By Jorge L.

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Judging in the Pandemic – A Malawian Perspective

Bill of Health

By Zione Ntaba Malawi is not a stranger to public health crises in the last number of years, having faced a severe HIV epidemic and several cholera outbreaks continuing into 2023. Nevertheless, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a major panic in the country’s legal system and judiciary.

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Old Dogs and New Tricks: A Case for the Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights & Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

Despite these experiences, Kenya failed take a human rights-based approach to responding to COVID-19, as was also the case in many other countries. One of the most glaring reasons for this failure was that the Kenyan government simply did not know how to do so.