COVAX and the Persistence of Epistemic Divergence in Global Outbreak Response

• In Event: Pandemic Preparedness, Past and Future

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, the network of actors engaged in governing global outbreak response has expanded and diversified. Scholarship at the intersection of global health and international relations suggests development of an epistemic community across sectors engaged in these processes. Yet in parallel, global health scholars acknowledge persistent divisions within the community of global health experts between those aligned with the principles of Universal Health Care outlined in the Alma Ata Declaration and those espousing neoliberal approaches to health. This is particularly evident with regard to intellectual property rights in the area of vaccine development and distribution. Drawing on key informant interviews and process tracing of media and policy documents, this paper examines policy processes among key stakeholders underpinning COVAX, the public-private partnership developed to address global vaccine equity during the COVID-19 pandemic, to assess the extent to which this division represents an epistemic divergence. This work contributes to further integration of global health as an issue area in international relations theory. Findings furthermore hold implications for understanding persistent obstacles to global health equity in the area of outbreak response.

Author

• Summer Marion, Bentley University