Ricerc@Sapienza

The emergency caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 disease brought many perverse effects with it, including an increase in global inequalities. This problem, which is particularly evident in terms of access to healthcare, has been exacerbated by the unequal distribution of vaccines between countries with advanced capitalism and developing countries, and between the wealthiest and poorest segments of the population. Nine months after the first vaccine dose was delivered, only 1% of the population in low-income countries had received at least one dose.
Following the sociological theory that first identified in the fracture between technical-scientific rationality and social rationality the point of rupture between the fairy tale of modern capitalism and the degeneration of contemporary industrial capitalism, this work aims to understand whether the faith in science, technology and economy (considered as indispensable elements for well-being, equality and freedom) still makes sense today.
Faced with the observation that the problem of inequalities in access to vaccines is also the product of a problem of scarcity of resources, and through an analysis of the pharmaceutical legislation currently in force, we will try to understand whether the measure promoted by various world leaders and organisations to suspend vaccine patents is a realistic option.
The case study on vaccine patents will therefore represent an opportunity to bring theoretical discourses back to concrete problems and, through an examination of the latter, to verify whether the hypotheses formulated stand the test of economic and social reality.