Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner - COVID-19 and global vaccine access: from equity to nationalism

ILAS Grand Challenges lecture series

The invention of safe and effective vaccines to combat COVID-19 is a milestone for humanity; allowing us to escape the acute phase of the pandemic, suppressing mortality and morbidity caused by infection and restoring a degree of normality to social life and the global economy. However, access to vaccines is deeply unequal; while the wealthiest countries consider third-dose booster, and immunising children, only 1% of people living in low-and-middle-income countries have received just one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This is a public health problem, and, in the words of the Director-General of the WHO, a moral catastrophe. In this talk, Dr. Mark Eccleston-Turner explores the cause of this inequity, the morality of it, and potential solutions to improve access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

Biography

Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner is a Senior Lecturer in Global Health Law at Kings College London. His research specialism is in the field of international law and infectious diseases. He has published extensively on international law and infectious diseases, including most recently, a co-authored monograph on the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. He has held appointments as the Visiting Fellow at the Brocher Foundation in Geneva, and as an Emerging Leader in Biosecurity Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Dr Eccleston-Turner has also worked as a Consultant to the World Health Organisation on procurement of pandemic vaccines.

Twitter: @MarkRTurner

This lecture is free and all are welcome to attend. 

Please note that are no restrictions for visitors on parking in areas marked for staff parking, including the Keele Hall courtyard, from 5.00pm.


Event date
Event Time
6:00PM
Location
Keele Hall Ballroom and Online via Microsoft Teams
Organiser
Steve Kilner
Contact email
ilas@keele.ac.uk
Contact telephone
01782 7 34449