Feb 9, 2021
The French complete version of this letter – « Les vaccins contre le SARS-CoV-2 doivent être considérés comme des biens publics mondiaux » – was published in Le Monde.
The Spanish version of the letter – Carta abierta: “¿Se puede patentar el Sol?” Sobre las vacunas contra el SARS-CoV-2″ – is available on SinPermiso.info
The follow-up of this open letter – Appel de Paris
– a common initiative with authors of other petitions – we’re joining our forces for a meeting on March 11, 2021
Open letter
“Could you patent the Sun?” On vaccines against Sars-Cov2
For the complete list of signatories, please see below
The vaccine against the Sars-cov2 was developed as a remedy to a pandemic that has radically changed the lives of billions of people, that has killed millions of them and the effects of which – human, social and political and economic – are going to be felt for decades to come. There is only one known cure for this disease, and that is an effective vaccination program.
Vaccines are now being produced by a handful of pharmaceutical laboratories on different continents, but this production does not meet the global demand. Yet, legal means are available to impose compulsory or ex officio licensing for vaccine patents internationally, and to allow laboratories that do not hold the patent for a vaccine to produce it anyway. For the moment only local licenses negotiated by the patent holders seem to be on the cards.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed its support for this idea of compulsory licensing in November 2020. It has also expressed its concern about the dangers of limiting production to respect the regime of intellectual property rights in the current pandemic context. Indeed, according to the UN, “intellectual property is not a human right, but a social product, having a social function”, and in cases where it might undermine “the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights”, it needs to be rethought. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concludes that States should use “all the flexibilities of the TRIPS Agreement” (The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, 2001) to ensure that everyone has access to a COVID-19 vaccine. The CESCR goes as far as to support the request of several States “to waive some of the provisions of the TRIPS agreement in the context of this global health crisis”.
Moreover, the WHO underlined already in 2005 that its Medicines Strategy was aimed at providing “access to medicines based on need rather than the ability to pay”, while striking a balance between the concern for maintaining trade (essential for economic growth) and promoting human health.
This pandemic is unlikely to be our last one – we need international structures that will allow the rapid development of vaccines. Recent scientific discoveries of a variety of options potentially offered by RNA-based vaccines give new hope for the possibility of quickly developing effective vaccines in case of any new pandemics. But this new research potential cannot be translated into a global health solution without an infrastructure ready to massively manufacture the necessary vaccines, as well as emergency procedures allowing authorities to suspend or lessen, on a global scale, intellectual property provisions for certain medical goods.
We, philosophers, legal scholars and political scientists, working on fundamental questions concerning law, ethics, politics, health, science and technology, ask for immediate action from Western governments, in particular those which belong to the OECD, to impose a special, temporary regime for the intellectual property rights covering the vaccines against SARS-Cov2, to make them available globally. Here, we join many others who have already voiced concern over the strict implementation of international patent policy in this context, including the medical staff of MSF, scientists, and other members of civil society. These vaccines should be produced in all the laboratories that can be adequately equipped, and the patented techniques should be made as freely available as was the genome of the Sars-Cov 2, in January 2020.
Vaccines should be considered as Global Public Goods and special policies should be tailored in order to maximize the production of the effective products. We should remember that when asked who owned the patent for the polio vaccine, its creator Jonas Salk answered, “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the Sun?”
- Joseph Agassi, Professor em. of Philosophy of Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Manuela Albertone, Professor of Modern Legal History, University of Turin, Italy
- Joan Anfossi-Divol, Associate Professor in Intellectual Property Law, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Aurélien Antoine, Professor of Law, University of Saint-Étienne, France
- C. Argyriadis-Kervegan, Professor in Legal History, CYU Cergy Paris Université, France
- Andrew Arana, Professor of Philosophy, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
- Gabriela Arguedas Ramírez, Associate Professor. Bioethics. Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica
- Daniel Attas, Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
- Isabelle Aubert, Associate Professor in Legal Philosophy, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Bernard Baertschi, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Geneva, Switzerland
- Etienne Balibar, Anniversary Chair in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University London, UK
- Ségolène Barbou des Places, Professor of Law, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Benoit Bastard, Professor of Political Sociology,CNRS, École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, France
- María Julia Bertomeu, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas, Argentina
- Magali Bessone, Professor of Political Philosophy, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Pierre Birnbaum, Professor of Political Sociology, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Patricia Blanchette, Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, US
- Thomas Boccon-Gibod, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
- Jessica Brandler, Researcher in Political Sociology, Sciences Po Bordeaux, France
- Daniel Brauer, Professor of Philosophy of History, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Mathilde Brémond, Associate Professor in Ancient Philosophy, Clermont-Auvergne University, France
- John Broome, Emeritus White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK
- Pierre Brunet, Professor of Law, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Jose Brunner, Professor (Emeritus) in History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Marta Bunge, Professor Emerita, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Francesca Caroccia, Professor of Private Law, University of L’Aquila, Italy
- Mathieu Carpentier, Professor of Public Law, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, France
- Anne-Sophie Chambost, Professor of Legal History, Sciences Po Lyon, France
- Ruth Chang, Professor Jurisprudence, University of Oxford, UK
- Jean-Pierre Changeux, Honorary Professor at Collège de France, Paris, France
- David Chavalarias, Senior Researcher in social & political mathematics, CNRS, France
- David Chauvet, Associate Professor in Law, Institut de Droit Européen des Droits de l’Homme, University of Montpellier, France
- Jose Antonio Cheibub, Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University, US
- Robin Celikates, Professor of Social Philosophy, FU Berlin, Germany
- Ryoa Chung, Professor of Philosophy, Université de Montréal, Canada
- Maria Susana Ciruzzi, Researcher in Criminal Law and in Bioethics, Hospital Garrahan, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Jacques Commaille, Professor of Political Sociology, Ecole normale supérieure, France
- Sébastien Claeys, Researcher in Moral Philosophy, Espace éthique Île-de-France, France
- Christine Clavien, Senior lecturer, University of Geneva, Switzerland
- Paul Clavier, Professor of Philosophy, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
- Marie-Anne Cohendet, Professor at the Ecole de droit de la Sorbonne, Pantheon Sorbonne University, France
- Antoine Corre-Basset, Professor of Public Law, University of Rouen, France
- Roger Crisp, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK
- Jonathan Dancy, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Texas, Austin, US & University of Reading, UK
- Nicolas Delon, Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Environmental Studies, New College of Florida, US
- Nadav Davidovitch, Professor of Medical Ethics, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
- Marc-Antoine Dilhac, Associate Professor in Ethics, Political and Legal Philosophy, Université de Montréal, Canada
- Élodie Djordjevic, Associate Professor in Legal Philosophy, Pantheon, Université Panthéon-Assas Paris II, France
- Juliette Dumont, Associate Professor in Political History, University Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, France
- Laurence Dumoulin, CNRS Research Fellow, PACTE, Sciences Po Grenoble UGA, France
- Filipe Drapeau Contim, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Université de Rennes 1, France
- Lisa Eckenwiler, Professor of Philosophy, George Mason University, US
- Noah Efron, Professor of Science, Technology & Society, Bar Ilan University, Israel
- David Enoch, Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
- Kathinka Evers, Professor in Philosophy, Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Jesús Ezquerro, Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of the Basque Country – UPV/EHU, Spain
- Michele Farisco, Researcher in Moral Philosophy, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Manuel Ferrari, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
- Dani Filc, Professor of Political Philosophy, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
- Franck Fischbach, Professor of Philosophy, University of Strasbourg, France
- Bastien François, Professor of Political Science, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Manfred Frank, Prof. em. of Philosophy, University of Tübingenn, Germany
- Rainer Forst, Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy, Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Germany
- Jennifer Gandhi, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emory University, US
- Gabriel Gatti, Professor of Political Sociology, University of the Basque Country, Spain
- Maximilian de Gaynesford, Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading, UK
- Charlotte Girard, Associate Professor of Public Law, Université Paris Nanterre, France
- Snait Gissis, Researcher in History and Philosophy of Science, Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Michal Givoni, Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
- Jean-Christophe Goddard, Professor of Philosophy, Université de Toulouse 2, France
- Philip Goff, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Durham University, UK
- Juan F. Gonzalez-Bertomeu, Principal Researcher, Institute for Legal Studies, UNAM, Mexico
- Neve Gordon, Professor in Human Rights, Queen Mary University of London, UK
- Stefan Gosepath, Professor Philosophy, Freie University Berlin, Germany
- Sophie Guérard de Latour, Professor in Political Philosophy, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France
- Bertrand Guillarme, Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy, University Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint Denis, France
- Jürgen Habermas, Professor em. of Philosophy, University of Frankfurt, Germany
- Hazar Haidar, Lecturer in Bioethics at Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
- Albeerto Oscar Herrera, Researcher in Constitutional Law, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Nicole Hassoun, Professor Binghamton University and Executive Director Global Health Impact Organization, US
- Axel Honneth, Jack C Weinstein Professor of the Humanities, Columbia University, New York, US
- Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez, Professor of Law, University Paris Nanterre, France
- Stephen Holmes, Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, US
- Richard Holton, Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, UK
- Fiona Hughes, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Essex, UK
- Phil Hutchinson, Senior Lecturer in Philosophical Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
- Nahomi Ichino, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emory University, US
- Rahel Jaeggi, Professor for Social and Political Philosophy, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany
- Laurent Jaffro, Professor of Moral Philosophy, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Paris, France
- Alison M Jaggar, Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Women and Gender Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder, US
- Soazick Kerneis, Professor of Legal History, University Paris Nanterre, France
- Jean-François Kervégan, Professor of Philosophy, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Ulrik Kihlbom, Associate Professor in Medical Ethics, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Raphaël Künstler, Lecturer in Philosophy, Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès, France
- Sandra Lapointe, Professor of Philosophy, McMaster University, Canada
- Silyane Larcher, Researcher in Political Science, CNRS, France
- F. William Lawvere, Professor emeritus of Philosophy of Mathematics at University of Buffalo, NY, US
- Eléonore Le Jallé, Professor of Contemporary Philosophy, University of Lille, France
- Carole Lemée, Associate Professor in Philosophical Anthropology, Université de Bordeaux, France
- Samuel Lepine, Associate Professor in Moral and Political Philosophy, Clermont Auvergne University, France
- Fernando Limongi, Professor of Political Science, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Pierre Lombrail, Professor em. of Public Health, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, France
- Michael Loughlin, Professor of Applied Philosophy, University of West London, UK
- Ilana Lowy, Senior Researcher em. in History and Philosophy of Sciences, INSERM, France
- Macarena Marey, Researcher in Political Philosophy, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Mathieu Marion FRSC, full professor, Department of philosophy, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
- Elise Marrou, Associate Professor in Contemporary Philosophy, Sorbonne University, France
- Julio Martínez-Cava, Adjunct lecturer, Sociology, University of Barcelona, Spain
- Jean Matringe, Professor of Law, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Christoph Menke, Professor of Philosophy, Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Francesca Minerva, Researcher in Philosophy, University of Milan, Italy
- Eric Millard, Professor of Law, Université Paris Nanterre, France
- Christophe Miqueu, Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Bordeaux, France
- Wioletta Miskiewicz, Senior Researcher at the CNRS, France
- Danièle Moyal-Sharrock, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire, UK
- Rafael E. de Munagorri, Professor of Law, Nantes University, France
- Magnus Nordborg, Scientific Director, Gregor Mendel Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Ilan Noy, Chair in the Economics of Disasters, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
- Claus Offe, Professor em. of Poitical Science, Humboldt University Berlin and Hertie School, Germany
- Gloria Origgi, Senior Researchers at the CNRS, Paris, France
- Michael Leo Owens, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emory University, US
- Carlos Parada, Researcher in Philosophical Psychology, France
- Noël Pécout, Lecturer in Philosophy, Lyon, Paris
- Corine Pelluchon, Professor of Philosophy at Gustave Eiffel University, France
- Javier Pérez Sandoval, researcher in Politics and Quantitative Methods, University of Oxford, UK
- Bruno Perreau, Cynthia L. Reed Professor of French Studies and Social Theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
- Elle Pfeffer, Researcher in Politics, University of Oxford, UK
- John Pitseys, Lecturer in Legal and Political Philosophy, currently Senator at the Brussels Regional Parliament, Belgium
- Alain Policar, Professor of Law and of Political Sciences, Sciences Po Paris, France
- Hervé Pourtois, Professor in Political Philosophy, University of Louvain, Belgium
- Adam Przeworski, Carrol and Milton Petrie Professor of Politics (Emeritus), New York University, US
- Paula Quinon, Assistant Research Professor in Philosophy, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
- Migel A. Quintanilla, Professor em. of Logic and Philosophy of Science Universit of Salamanca, Spain
- Pierre-Yves Quiviger, Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Alain Renaut, Professor (emeritus) in Political and Moral Philosophy, Sorbonne University, France
- Sandrine Revet, Senior Researcher in Anthropology, Sciences Po, Paris, France
- Valérie Robert, Associate Professor in German Studies, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, France
- Laurent Rollet, Associate Professor in Epistemology and History of Sciences, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
- Julie Saada, Professor of Legal Philosophy, Sciences Po Paris, France
- Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow, Political Science, Sciences Po/CERI, France
- Maria Paula Saffon, Principal Researcher, Institute for Legal Studies, UNAM, Mexico
- Constantine Sandis, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire, UK
- Shanker Satyanath, Professor of Political Science, New York University, UK
- Patrick Savidan, Professor of Philosophy, Université Paris-Est Créteil, France
- Hans Schneider, Associate Professor, Sydney University, Australia
- Thomas M. Schmidt, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany
- Yann Schmitt, Lecturer in Philosophy, Lille, France
- Assaf Sharon, Professor in ethics and political philosophy, Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Kevin M. Shea, Director, Effective Altruism Rationality to Help, New York, US
- Jérôme Segal, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University Paris Sorbonne, France
- José Segovia Martín, Researcher in Cognitive Sciences, Complex Systems Institute (ISC-PIF) (CNRS), France
- Jonathan Simon, Associate Professor in Philosophy of Pharmacy & Philosophy of Sciences, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
- Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University, US
- John Skorupski, Professor Emeritus of Moral Philosophy, University of St Andrews; Visiting Professor Philosophy, Birbkbeck College University of London, UK
- Jean-Marc Sorel, Professor of Public International Law, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, France
- Dan Sperber, Professor of Cognitive Science and of Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
- Natalia Strok, Adjunct Researcher in History of Medieval and Modern Philosophy, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Sandra Szurek, Professor em. of Law, Université Paris Nanterre, France
- Wataru Tanaka, Professor of Law, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan
- Olivier Tinland, Associate Professor in Contemporary Philosophy, University Paul Valéry of Montpellier, France
- Florent Trocquenet-Lopez, Lecturer in Philosophy, Paris, France
- Michel Troper, Professor (emeritus) of Public Law, Université Paris Nanterre, France
- Paul-Loup Weil-Dubuc, Researcher in Moral Philosophy & Espace Ethique IDF, Université Paris-Saclay, France
- Daniel Weinstock, Katharine A. Pearson Chair in Civil Society and Public Policy, McGill University, Canada
- Mikhail Xifaras, Professor of Law, Sciences Po Law School, France
- Heinz-Jochen Zenker, Professor of Public Health, President of Ärzte der Welt/ Doctors of the World, Germany
- Lionel Zevounou, Associate Professor in Public Law, Paris Nanterre University, France
- Anna C. Zielinska, Associate Professor in Moral, Legal and Political Philosophy, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
- Hadas Ziv, Director of Ethics in Physicians for Human Rights, Israel
Contact: anna.zielinska@univ-lorraine.fr
