UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Intellectual Property Rights and Global Access to Health Technologies During Pandemics: Reflecting on Vaccine Nationalism, COVID-19 & the WHO Pandemic Agreement Negotiations — The Need for Collective Action and Institutional Change

Identification

Public canonical key

radar:r-9cd28bd7b11cd61da65f9434b60ba6a7

Authors

Aisling M. McMahon

Reported year

2025

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-14T02:18:58.189043+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-14T02:18:58.189043+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Reported affiliation countries

IE

Documentary abstract — original language

Focusing on intellectual property rights (IPRs) and their role in global access to vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, this article argues that key aspects of the current institutional system align towards delivering individualistic state/regional/rightsholders priorities in the use of IPRs over pandemic health technologies. This played a key role in the vaccine nationalism and global vaccine inequity that emerged during the pandemic. It critically analyzes the IPR provisions within the World Health Organisation's Pandemic Agreement and negotiation process. It argues that nationalistic/individualistic approaches toward the use of IPRs over health technologies also permeate such contexts. The final text of the Agreement leaves considerable discretion to states around IPRs, and much will depend on how it is implemented in practice. For effective future pandemic preparedness around how IPRs are used over health technologies, this article argues that a deeper bottom-up institutional change is needed - one which offers nuanced strategies to balance the potential incentivization role of IPRs with the implications certain uses of IPRs can have on access to downstream health technologies. A key element of this change is embedding a greater recognition of the range of resources provided by entities (e.g. funders, biobanks, and universities) necessary in the successful development of health technologies, including in pandemic contexts. Such entities should leverage these resources, including by attaching contractual conditions to access these, which mandate avenues for downstream access to pandemic health technologies. In the longer term such approaches could be part of a broader institutional change, which prioritises global collective health needs in pandemics.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

https://openalex.org/W4413806879

DOI

10.1017/jme.2025.10149

PMID

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40878692

PMCID

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12912832

Documentary context

Documentary family

article

Source-reported types

article

Publishers

Cambridge University Press

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1

• Document · https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2025.10149

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.