The Contentious Politics of Global Health Movements : Contesting Patents in Pandemic Times

Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, health and care have become central claims. Transnational campaigns addressing patents on vaccines have unfolded. This Element analyses these transnational campaigns, with particular attention to their organisational models, repertoires of action and collective framing.

While much research has addressed the regressive anti-vax protests, this Element focuses on campaigns by progressive social movements to promote the development of vaccines for Covid-19 and ensure their equal access on a global level. Over the course of the pandemic, health and care have become central claims, mobilising health workers and patients as well as citizens in general. Together with various local and national social movement organizations which converged on health rights, through the use of care and cure as bridging frames, transnational campaigns addressing patents on vaccines also unfolded. This Element analyses these transnational campaigns, with particular attention to their organisational models, repertoires of action and collective framing. It assesses their outcomes by considering the complex sets of opportunities and constraints that the Covid-19 pandemic presented for progressive social movements that fight for access to medicines and cures at a global level.