Law Commons^™

No Future But A Shared Future, Lawrence O. Gostin, Kevin A. Klock, Sam F. Halabi, Katie Gottschalk, Katherine Ginsbach

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the fractured and inadequate state of national and global health law and institutions, revealing deeply embedded inequalities. In response to a World Health Assembly resolution proposing a special session to consider the benefits of developing a WHO convention or other international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) convened 30 of the world’s leading authorities on global health law, financing, biomedical science, implementation, and emergency response along with leaders from prominent international organizations deeply engaged in responding to …

National Focal Points And Implementation Of The International Health Regulations, Kumanan Wilson, Sam F. Halabi, Helge Hollmeyer, Lawrence O. Gostin, David P. Fidler, Corinne Packer, Lindsay Wilson, Ronald Labonté

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Health Regulations (IHR) and countries’ adherence to IHR guidance are coming under scrutiny and review. The IHR constitute a legal and governance framework that guides countries in responding to serious disease events while avoiding unnecessary interference with international trade and traffic. The IHR require States Parties to designate or establish national IHR focal points to facilitate information sharing about disease events with WHO, which makes these focal points critical in the effective implementation of the IHR within and between countries. On behalf of the State Party concerned, national …

The Coronavirus Pandemic 1 Year On—What Went Wrong?, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

January 30, 2021, marked the first anniversary of the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Thus far, the world has been no match for SARS-CoV-2, with more than 100 million cases and 2.5 million deaths. The US has been among the world’s poorest performers in addressing the pandemic, with more than 500 000 deaths.

Vaccines offer the best chance of returning to normal, but circulating variants pose a major obstacle, particularly the emergence of variants that are more transmissible and are developing partial resistance to vaccines against …