Law Commons^™

Safeguarding The Pandemic Agreement From Disinformation, Alexandra Finch, Kevin A. Klock, Lawrence O. Gostin, Sam F. Halabi, Sarah A. Wetter

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Complicating the negotiation of a global pandemic treaty has been a sustained disinformation campaign worldwide to undermine the agreement by making and amplifying spurious assertions about what it intends to accomplish and how it will do so. Central to the disinformation campaign are erroneous claims about national sovereignty and forcible takings of pandemic countermeasures. Further, legitimate and unfounded unease concern weakened intellectual property (IP) and speech rights. Having followed the negotiations and provided technical assistance to the World Health Organization's (WHO's) leadership, we set the record straight in several key areas.

A Critical Juncture For Human Rights In Global Health: Strengthening Human Rights Through Global Health Law Reforms, Benjamin Mason Meier, Luciano Bottini Filho, Judith Bueno De Mesquita, Roojin Habibi, Sharifah Sekalala, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), establishing a human rights foundation under the United Nations (UN), has become a cornerstone of global health, central to public health policies throughout the world. As the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of the UDHR on 10 December, this “Human Rights Day” celebration arrives at a critical juncture for human rights in global health, raising an imperative for World Health Organization (WHO) reforms to strengthen the right to health and health-related human rights.

The Origins Of Covid-19 — Why It Matters (And Why It Doesn’T), Lawrence O. Gostin, Gigi K. Gronvall

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

When Health emergencies arise, scientists seek to discover the cause — such as how a pathogen emerged and spread — because this knowledge can enhance our understanding of risks and strategies for prevention, preparedness, and mitigation. Yet well into the fourth year of the Covid-19 pandemic, intense political and scientific debates about its origins continue. The two major hypotheses are a natural zoonotic spillover, most likely occurring at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, and a laboratory leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). It is worth examining the efforts to discover the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the political obstacles, and …

At Long Last, Who Member States Agree To Fix Its Financing Problem, Alexandra Finch, Kevin A. Klock, Eric A. Friedman, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Those who deeply care about improving the health and well-being of all people no matter their personal circumstances have long argued that sustainably financing the World Health Organization is a cornerstone imperative—and for good reason. WHO is the only institution with the mandate and legitimacy to sit at the center of the global health architecture and bring together all stakeholders to coordinate and execute all-of-humanity approaches. Now after decades of inaction, WHO's member states have agreed to substantially improve the agency’s financing model, giving it greater flexibility and enhanced capacity to fulfill its mandate as the world’s health champion. What …

Financing The Future Of Who, Lawrence O. Gostin, Kevin A. Klock, Helen Clark, Fatimatou Zahra Diop, Dayanath Jayasuriya, Jemilah Mahmood, Attiya Waris

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

WHO's resources have consistently lagged behind its constitutional mandate. There is a deep misalignment between what governments and the public expect WHO to do and what the organisation is resourced to do. WHO is challenged by low levels of political will to increase its financing, strained government treasuries, and a battle over control of priorities. WHO's Executive Board has charged the Working Group on Sustainable Financing with identifying a viable plan for sustainable financing before the World Health Assembly in May. There is no time to lose. WHO's resourcing strategy must match its mission with assured financial support from member …

Life After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

After 2 years of a seemingly relentless pandemic that has upended work, education, and social interactions, the questions many are asking are when will we get back to normal and what will life be like after the COVID-19 pandemic? In truth, science cannot fully predict what SARS-CoV-2 variants will arise and the trajectory of the pandemic. Yet, history and informed scientific observations provide a guide to how—and when—society will return to pre-pandemic patterns of behavior. There will not be a single moment when social life suddenly goes back to normal. Instead, gradually, over time, most people will view COVID-19 as …

The First 2 Years Of Covid-19: Lessons To Improve Preparedness For The Next Pandemic, Jennifer B. Nuzzo, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in China reported novel “viral pneumonias of unknown cause” in Wuhan, but China did not confirm case clusters until January 3, 2020. Two years later, more than 285 million cases and 5.4 million deaths have been reported. As of December 2021, more than 800 000 COVID-19 deaths have occurred in the US, surpassing the 675 446 total deaths that occurred during the great influenza pandemic of 1918. The COVID-19 pandemic reduced global economic growth by an estimated 3.2% in 2020, with trade declining by 5.3%; an estimated 75 million …

Science, Leadership, And Public Trust In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Adherence to science in health messaging and public policies helped determine which countries have performed well in containing COVID-19. In the United States, President Trump has interfered with and undermined the work of scientific agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, generating public distrust in science and amplifying fears about a future vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. He has also announced that the United States will not join a global partnership that aims to support the development of a vaccine and share access to it.

Science does not always tell us what …

Pandemic As Opportunity For Competence Restoration Decarceration, Susan A. Mcmahon

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Before the pandemic, a defendant found incompetent to stand trial was often stranded in jail for weeks or months as she waited for an inpatient bed to open at a psychiatric facility. While there, she usually received no treatment, her mental health deteriorated, and she was astonishingly likely to be abused and neglected. She almost certainly came out of jail in a worse state than she was when she went in.

The pandemic has made this desperate situation even worse. Now that wait in jail is both longer, as many psychiatric facilities stopped accepting new patients as they dealt with …

How Well Does Societal Mobility Restriction Help Control The Covid-19 Pandemic? Evidence From Real-Time Evaluation, Juhwan Oh, Hwa-Young Lee, Khuong Quynh Long, Jeffrey F. Markuns, Chris Bullen, Osvaldo Enrique Artaza Barrios, Seung-Sik Hwang, Young Sahng Seo, Judith Mccool, S. Patrick Kachur, Chang-Chung Chan, Soonman Kwon, Naoki Kondo, Hoang Van Minh, J. Robin Moon, Mikael Rostila, Ole F. Norheim, Myoungsoon You, Mellissa Withers, Mu Lil, Eun-Jeung Lee, Caroline Benski, Soo Kyung Park, Eun-Woo Nam, Katie Gottschalk, Matthew M. Kavanagh, Jong-Koo Lee, Martin Mckee, S. V. Subramanian, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

One of the most widely implemented policy response to the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has been the imposition of restrictions on mobility (1). These restrictions have included both incentives, encouraging working from home, supported by a wide range of online activities such as meetings, lessons, and shopping, and sanctions, such as stay at home orders, restrictions on travel, and closure of shops, offices, and public transport (2-5). The measures constitute a major component of efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to previous epidemic responses, they are unprecedented in both scale and scope (6).

The rationale underpinning these public health …

The Emerging Zika Pandemic: Enhancing Preparedness, Lawrence O. Gostin, Daniel Lucey

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Zika virus (ZIKV), a flavivirus related to yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis, originated in the Zika forest in Uganda and was discovered in a rhesus monkey in 1947. The disease now has “explosive” pandemic potential, with outbreaks in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas. Since Brazil reported Zika virus in May 2015, infections have occurred in at least 20 countries in the Americas. Puerto Rico reported the first locally transmitted infection in December 2015, but Zika is likely to spread to the United States. The Aedes species mosquito (an aggressive daytime biter) that …

Biodefense And Constitutional Constraints, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The United States and United Kingdom have different approaches to quarantine law that reflect each country’s unique historical context and constitutional structure. Under the Tudors, England vested quarantine authority in the monarch, with its subsequent exercise conducted by the military. As the constitutional structure changed, the manner in which quarantine was given effect subtly shifted, leading to constitutional reforms. Authorities transferred first to the Privy Council and, subsequently, to Parliament, where commercial interests successfully lobbied them out of existence. By the end of the 19th Century, quarantine authorities had been pushed down to the local port authorities. In the United …