The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, the India-Oxford Initiative and the Asian Studies Centre, University of Oxford invite you to an interdisciplinary symposium on the COVID-19 pandemic titled ‘We’re in This Together: Cross Jurisdictional Learnings for Governance, Policy and Law from Covid-19′.

The aim of the symposium is to bring together experts across disciplines and jurisdictions to facilitate a conversation about learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic and to build a joint foundation to tackle future public health emergencies more effectively.

The symposium will be held on March 3 and will feature two panel discussions.

Panel 1: An Equitable Global Response to the Pandemic – 16:30-17:30 IST/11:00-12:00 GMT

This panel will explore what it takes to address the problem of lack of access to vaccines against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and public health emergencies in general. It will discuss the use of the TRIPS waiver and India’s role in its implementation, as well as what the international human right requires  in terms of access to vaccines and treatments.

Panellists

• Siva Thambisetty, Associate Professor of Law, London School of Economics Law School
• Mark Heywood, Human Rights and Social Justice Activist, South Africa
• Murali Neelakantan, Principal Lawyer, Amicus

This discussion will be moderated by Rahul Bajaj, Senior Resident Fellow, Partnerships, Research Director’s Office, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

Panel 2: Decision-Making Processes and Governance Structures during a Public Health Emergency – 14:30-15:30 GMT / 20:00-21:00 IST

This panel will discuss how speedy and efficient decision-making during a public health emergency can be balanced with transparent and inclusive processes. Some of the themes that will be explored include individual rights versus the collective good, federalism and top-down decision-making, and the role of data in governance.

Introductory Remarks (Pre-recorded): Dave A Chokshi, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Panellists:

• Professor K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India and Member, National COVID Taskforce, India
• Karthik Muralidharan, Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego
• Radhika Nagesh, Research Assistant, Blavatnik School of Government

This discussion will be moderated by Dhvani Mehta, Co-Founder, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.