19 – Ethics and the global distribution of vaccines during Covid-19

What was the role of moral duties in Western responses to Covid-19? How were vaccines distributed globally by states and pharmaceutical companies? And which lessons can be drawn for the ethics of humanitarian action? These are questions that were discussed in this conversation between Simon Reid-Henry and Jonathan Wolff, with comments by Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée and Kristoffer Lidén. The conversation is an output from the research project ⁠Co-duties: Democratic duties, collective action, and the greater good after Covid-19⁠. Held on 28 April 2023, this is the fourth in a series of discussions on the ethics of humanitarian action. The series is initiated by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies in collaboration with the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). It relates to the project Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiations, led by Kristoffer Lidén at PRIO.