This paper considers the ethical obligation high income countries (HIC) have to lower and middle income countries (LMIC) during a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the shortcomings of distributing scarce medical resources... more
This paper considers the ethical obligation high income countries (HIC) have to lower and middle income countries (LMIC) during a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the shortcomings of distributing scarce medical resources according to economic bargaining power and of responding to the global health crisis with national isolation. This paper will present a pragmatic argument against vaccine nationalism and arguments for a more cosmopolitan approach. We argue that vaccines and medical equipment should have been distributed according to Brock's needs-based minimum floor principles, thus defending positions of vaccine Sufficientarianism. HIC ought to adopt such a strategy based on, 1. the duty to rectify past injustices from colonisation, and 2. a negative duty not to uphold unjust institutions and to contribute to radical inequalities. Finally, three practical steps to improve the vaccine rollout are advocated for: HIC should redistribute the excess vaccine doses to LMIC rather than letting doses go to waste; necessary infrastructure to mobilise medical supplies and healthcare staff to administer vaccine doses; and patents should be suspended to prioritise saving lives.
