International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

From Aspiration to Action: Aligning the Pandemic Agreement with Equity in Vaccine Access; A Response to Recent Commentaries

Document Type : Correspondence

Authors
Luciana Correia Borges 1
Henrique Zeferino de Menezes 2
Eric Crosbie 3
1 School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA
2 Department of International Relations, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
3 Ozmen Institute for Global Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA
10.34172/ijhpm.9192
Keywords
Global Health Governance
Pharmaceutical Accountability
Binding International Frameworks
Technology Transfer
Human Rights
Intellectual Property Rights

The commentaries by Gleeson et al. (2024), Ortiz-Millán (2024), Lexchin (2024), and Chattu et al. (2024) on our article (Borges et al., 2022) offer critical reflections that reinforce and expand our argument that disparities in COVID-19 vaccine rollouts expose structural inequities in global health governance, driven by pharmaceutical profit prioritization and compounded by voluntary compliance frameworks. ...(Read more...)

  1. Gleeson D, Scheibner J, Tenni BF, Townsend B, Nicol D. Pandemic agreement must include levers to redirect pharmaceutical industry behaviour during pandemics: Comment on "More pain, more gain! The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry's role in widening the access gap". Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8589. doi:34172/ijhpm.8589
  2. Ortiz-Millán G. Ethical and practical considerations for an agreement to ensure equitable vaccine access: Comment on "More pain, more gain! The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry's role in widening the access gap". Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8516. doi:34172/ijhpm.2024.8516
  3. Lexchin J. profits first, health second: the pharmaceutical industry and the Global South: Comment on "More pain, more gain! The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry's role in widening the access gap". Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8471. doi:34172/ijhpm.2024.8471
  4. Kumar Chattu V, Pushkaran A, Narayanan P. Political prioritization of access to medicines and right to health: need for an effective global health governance through global health diplomacy: Comment on "More pain, more gain! The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry's role in widening the access gap". Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8578. doi:34172/ijhpm.8578
  5. Borges LC, Zeferino de Menezes H, Crosbie E. More pain, more gain! The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry's role in widening the access gap. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022;11(12):3101-3113. doi:34172/ijhpm.2022.6942
  6. World Health Organization (WHO). Proposal for the WHO Pandemic Agreement. Draft Agreement of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. Geneva: WHO; 2025. https://www.keionline.org/wp-content/uploads/Proposal_for_WHO_Pandemic_Agreement_E-Onscreen-16-April-2025-at-01_57-CEST.docx.pdf.
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 14, Issue 1
2025
Pages 1-2

  • Received Date 03 May 2025
  • Accepted Date 04 May 2025
  • First Published Date 10 May 2025
  • Published Date 01 December 2025