Article out: Legal environ & #pandemic response. After 5yr global #HIV push on testing&treatment, countries that criminalized gay relat, sexwork, drugs had less success. Rights-protective laws, better outcomes
Biomedical & structural interconnected
A🧵/1 gh.bmj.com/content/6/8/e0…
Measuring legal approaches in world: @HIVPolicyLab data show some countries highly criminalize, some less so (only 20% criminalize all). Meanwhile rights-protective legal approaches: 23% have strong non-discrim, 39% ind. human rights inst., 79% enforceable GBV laws. /2
In sum: biomedical health outcomes (how effectively HIV virus been suppressed in a country) are linked to the legal environment. As @HIVLawCom found “the legal environment can play a powerful role in the well-being of people living with HIV and those vulnerable to HIV” /6
Dear @JoeBiden@KamalaHarris@SecBlinken@SecBecerra time for you to act. Sharing tech is good public health, it's good diplomacy. NIH-Moderna vax already paid for. It could show the power and relevance of government, US in particular. How about you...
1. Democratize vaccine production. I know you've already said USDFC is investing, take the last steps... and also foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/01/to-…
2. Use the authority you have. Not sure why you're NOT using the carrot and stick to get this done, but it's a bad look. Moderna has NO interest in these markets, has not even registered to sell there. You can use the Defense Production Act and... lpeproject.org/blog/how-to-va…
#Covax is failing. Big picture: even as delivers doses, it won’t deliver goal of EQUITY.
Short term: By June was to reach just 3% of LMIC pops. Delivered only 1/4 of that (88 of 337m forecast).
We need to talk about why & learn real-world, politically-informed lessons
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The goal: at a high level, COVAX as a pillar of ACT-A aimed to “ensure that every country gets fair and equitable access to eventual #COVID19 vaccines…. By acting as an insurance policy.” At this point, it's clear this model has not been successful /2
Not #VaccinEquity: Dec 2, 11, 21 of 2020 UK, US & EU authorized #COVID19 vaccine.
6mos later, so many ways (data, stories, lives) to see inequity outcome of current vaccine prod & distrib systems.
Here's 👇from @fibke:% pop vs % vax does NOT approach equity /3
Breaking: South Africa’s vaccine roll out yet again in crisis b/c high-inc-based company failed to deliver vaccines. Millions of JNJ vax may have to be tossed out, so no vax for millions of seniors & vulnerable supposed to be vaccinated 2 wks ago. this has to be addressed...
...this is happening b/c USG-funded production of JNJ vax substance at Emergent which failed quality.
Aspen, the SAfrican company, has NOT gotten tech transfer to make the vax, instead they’re filling and finishing substance from JNJ (from Emergent)😞
@R_H_Ebright@amymaxmen@VanityFair pretty striking to have a once-eminent professor reduced to schoolyard name-calling in defense of problematic journalism... Not sure where that gets you, but ok here's what I read...
@R_H_Ebright@amymaxmen@VanityFair Article quotes trump admin official saying it “smelled like a cover-up” (innuendo). Any evidence of a cover-up? None given. Instead, evidence shows pretty clearly what Trump appointees were pushing didn’t pass basic basic scientific rigor so career experts refused advance it.
@R_H_Ebright@amymaxmen@VanityFair Article questions WHO’s independence because (innuendo) WHO didnt appoint US officials. From a government that had announced withdrawal from the WHO? That’s just silly.
Read 👇 Dear Journalism:Does this pass muster @VanityFair? Innuendo, implications, Eban teases as breaking story. Zero new evidence. Lots of fmr Trump admin people saying there's a cover up, with no evidence. How is this not just spreading misinformation? vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/t…
YES we need more info on #COVID#Origins. Yes a lab leak is a possibility, but as many have said it has not been high on priority b/c there is quite literally no evidence for it. Eban doesn't find any either. But she does fall for all sorts of canards...
For example, Eban falls for the one about how @WHO didn't appoint US officials suggested for the independent expert team. This has been being shopped around by Trump admin folks for months. Eban takes the bait, reports it as if it's a shocking piece of new information. But...
[Stay tuned Monday for a new paper on empirical impacts]
Criminalization of same-sex relationships, drug use, sex work, and HIV exposure remain wide-spread despite clear evidence and global norms against. New UN targets: reduce the orange and yellow bars to 10%. Lots to do.
But there are many protective laws that also need adopting. Strong gender-based violence laws have been adopted by 114 countries, but more work to do on adoption & implementation.