Research Seminar in Philosophical Perspectives on Human Rights: Nicole Hassoun (Binghampton University)

Solidarity and the Human Right to Health: An Argument Against Vaccine Nationalism

Our global response to the COVID-19 pandemic faltered. Nationalism trumped solidarity, causing unnecessary loss of life, trade, and travel disruption, and inequitable access to vaccines and therapeutics. Good evidence exists that we could have saved many more lives with a more equitable distribution of scarce health resources (Chinazzi et al.,2020; Rotesi et al., 2021). The global response failed to protect everyone’s human rights to health in part because rich countries engaged in vaccine nationalism. Even though some rich countries embraced less stringent forms of vaccine nationalism than others and were willing to give non-compatriots’ basic needs priority over compatriots’ non-basic needs, few were willing to distribute scarce vaccines in the way that would have optimally addressed the pandemic (Puyvallée & Storeng, 2022). Many also embraced the strongest forms of vaccine nationalism – prioritizing compatriots’ non-basic needs over others’ basic needs (Emanuel et al., 2022). These countries bought up scarce medical supplies for their populations and stockpiled vaccines even after everyone within their borders who was willing to take them had the opportunity, depriving others in much greater need of access. To prevent a repeat of this tragedy, this paper argues, that the world must come together with sufficient solidarity to adequately address pandemic threats (Hassoun, 2020; Hassoun, 2024d). Solidarity is roughly a sympathetic and imaginative enactment of collaborative measures to enhance our relationships with others so that together we fare well enough (Atuire and Hassoun, 2023). We need this solidarity to fulfill individuals’ basic human rights because we cannot just develop new vaccines and other essential health technologies – we must ensure that people can access them. This requires equitable distribution and the significant investments necessary to create and sustain basic health systems around the world. Moreover, we must work together to ensure for all the social determinants of health. If we do not, the world will remain woefully unprepared for future pandemics.