Contesting patents on COVID-19 vaccines in the EU: the no profit on pandemic campaign

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents and analyses the campaign behind the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘No Profit on Pandemic’ which challenged patents for COVID-19 vaccines. Albeit unsuccessful, we argue that the campaign offers a unique opportunity to study the transnationalisation of European contention during the ‘emergency critical juncture’ of the pandemic. We situate the campaign within (1) the broader Europeanisation of health governance and (2) the wider ‘Access to Medicines’ movement to point to the political obstacles and discursive opportunities for anti-patent mobilisation over the period. We conclude that, despite the discursive opportunities offered, the campaign failed to break through the political push-back and the industry opposition. The article, thus, contributes to the literature on health activism, in general, and progressive social movements during the pandemic, in particular, and hopes to shed some light on the global politics of public health.