Access to vaccines and medicines

Access to medicines, vaccines and other health products is disturbingly uneven in many places and remains deeply unequal across the world.

These disparities have serious consequences for the realization of the right to health, particularly for women and girls, older persons, persons with disabilities, national, ethnic, religious, racial and linguistic minorities, indigenous populations, LGBTI+ persons, migrants – particularly undocumented migrants, stateless persons, refugees and displaced persons, persons living in poverty and other persons or population groups at heightened risk of right to health violations. Persons with chronic and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly in low- and middle-income countries, also face significant barriers in accessing medicines, vaccines and other health products due to important out-of-pocket expenditures and limited availability of treatments and diagnostic tools for NCDs.

Equitable and universal access to medicines, vaccines, and other health products is a fundamental component and determinant of the right to health. They must not only be produced and made available; they must also be accessible without discrimination to everyone - everywhere.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical importance of affordable, timely, equitable, and universal access to vaccines in responding to global health emergencies. While the rapid development of effective COVID-19 vaccines was a major scientific achievement, the failure to ensure universal and equitable distribution had a direct and devastating impact on the enjoyment of the right to health for millions of people — leading to preventable illness, hospitalization, and death.

Access is often most fragile during health crises—such as armed conflicts, natural disasters, and humanitarian emergencies—when medicines, vaccines and other health products are most urgently needed. In such contexts, existing availability and access challenges are compounded by new barriers hindering service delivery, disrupting supply chains, driving up prices, forcing the suspension of vaccination campaigns. Ensuring continuous, non-discriminatory access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in these settings is a human rights obligation.

As digital technologies increasingly shape health systems—from electronic health records and digital supply chains to algorithmic prioritization and AI-assisted diagnostics—their impact on access to medicines, vaccines and other health products is profound and transformative. These tools can support the realization of the right to health, including by expanding reach to remote or underserved communities. Without adequate safeguards, these technologies can also deepen existing inequalities. Ensuring that digital health solutions are governed by human rights principles is essential to realize the right to health for all.

As the world moves toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the promise of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) must be met with concrete, human rights anchored actions. SDG 3 calls for ensuring access to safe, effective, affordable and quality medicines and vaccines for all. Realizing these goals requires legal, political, and financial commitments that place human rights at the centre. Advocating for equitable and universal access to vaccines, medicines and other health products, and ensuring a human rights-based approach is an essential part of this process.

OHCHR continues to closely monitor developments in access to vaccines, medicines, and other health products. In collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, the Office provides guidance on implementing a human rights-based approach health, with particular attention to populations and groups who face or are at risk of facing systemic barriers to accessing vaccines, medicines, and other health products. A core objective is to ensure that health-related laws, policies, and responses — including those concerning universal health coverage — are firmly grounded in international human rights standards and principles. This includes:

• Providing technical assistance and guidance to States and other stakeholders to ensure availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of medicines, vaccines and other health products;
• Promoting the integration of access-related human rights standards in UN frameworks, global health initiatives and health governance mechanisms;
• Building partnerships with civil society and advocating for the participation and empowerment of rights holders to claim their rights to access to medicines, vaccines and other health products;
• Strengthening capacity across sectors to understand and address the human rights dimensions of innovation, pricing, procurement, and equitable distribution of medicines, vaccines and other health products.

Reports and consultations

Comprehensive report on access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health - Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2025)

The present comprehensive report, prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/13, contains an analysis of good practices and key systemic challenges, including new developments, emerging issues and arising challenges, and outlines a human rights-based approach to ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products as part of realizing the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. View report page

Expert workshop on new developments in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products – 21 January 2025

Human Rights Council resolution 50/13, requested the Office of the High Commissioner to organize a workshop on the human rights dimension of access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. This workshop is the third out of three workshops that will inform the comprehensive report on the subject matter to be presented to the Human Rights Council at the fifty-ninth session in June 2025. It will focus on new developments in this area. View event page

Analytical study on key challenges in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

This analytical study on key challenges, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/13, contains an analysis of key challenges and pathways to ensure the availability, accessibility and acceptability of good quality medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics and other health products and technologies as part of realizing the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

The report addresses key challenges to the realization of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, such as rising inequalities, discrimination as well as systemic access barriers and access challenges in humanitarian emergency situations. The analytical study is the second in a series of three reports, and should be read in conjunction with the compendium of good practices related to access to medicines, vaccines and other health products (A/HRC/53/50), also mandated by the Human Rights Council in resolution 50/13. View report page

Expert workshop on key challenges and new developments in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products – 16 February 2024

Human Rights Council resolution 50/13, requested the High Commissioner to organize an expert workshop on key challenges and new developments in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. View event page

Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - 15 May 2023

The report (E/2023/74) Economic, social and cultural rights - submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 48/141, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights outlines challenges in relation to access to medicines that arise in the existing system for pharmaceutical innovation, its associated business models and current pricing practices. The prohibitive cost of medicines in poor and wealthy countries alike is a major reason why 2 billion persons lack access to the medicines that they need and thousands of preventable deaths occur every day, raising substantial human rights concerns. The High Commissioner emphasizes that, whereas pricing based on a reasonable rate of return would save thousands of lives, maximizing investor return at all costs demonstrates a systematic lack of compliance with human rights law by Governments and failure by business enterprises to meet their responsibility to respect human rights. It urges State action to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and new business models that reconcile the fiduciary responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies with their human rights responsibilities. View report page

Compendium of good practices on access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health - Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2023)

This compendium of good practices,  submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/13, contains an overview of good practices and solution pathways on access to medicines, vaccines and other health products, including policies and interventions that can contribute to ensuring access to these essential health products. This compendium is the first report of a trilogy and it will be complemented by an analytical study on key challenges to be submitted at the fifty-sixth session, and in 2025, at the fifty-ninth session of the Council, the High Commissioner is to present a comprehensive study – incl. actionable recommendations- on access to medicines, vaccines and other health products.

The report (A/HRC/53/50) concludes that ensuring the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of medicines, vaccines and other health products requires a collaborative effort by governments, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, and international organizations. Good practices include access-oriented management of intellectual property rights, strong regulatory frameworks, price regulation, and investment in research and development of new medicines and vaccines, including through public-private partnerships, policies and measures that encourage the production of generic medicines as well as innovative models for procurement and distribution. View report page

Expert workshop on good practices in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products – 14 February 2023

Human Rights Council resolution 50/13, requested the High Commissioner to organize an expert workshop on good practices in ensuring access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. View event page

Report of the High Commissioner COVID-19 vaccines – good practices and key challenges (2023)

This report A/HRC/52/56 by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights considers the human rights implications of and good practices and key challenges in affordable, timely, equitable and universal access to and distribution of quality, safe, efficacious and affordable COVID-19 vaccines and the impact on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. View report page

Report of the High Commissioner on COVID-19 vaccines (2022)

This report A/HRC/49/35 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights considers the human rights implications of the lack of affordable, timely, equitable and universal access and distribution of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines and of the deepening inequalities between States, highlighting that vaccine delays not only have grave health consequences, but also have other profound human rights implications. View report page

Summary of the seminar on access to medicines and vaccines (2022)

This report A/HRC/49/34 contains a summary of the discussions at a full-day intersessional seminar, held on 8 December 2021. The seminar was focused on good practices, key challenges and new developments in the area of access to medicines and vaccines as one of the fundamental dimensions of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. View summary

Panel discussion on equitable and universal access for all countries to vaccines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (2022)

This panel discussion focused on the human rights implications of the lack of affordable, timely, equitable and universal access and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and the deepening inequalities between States. It examined obstacles to universal access to COVID-19 vaccines, and promising practices and effective strategies adopted by States and other stakeholders in addressing them as well as the challenges of growing inequalities and divergent recoveries from the pandemic. View event page 

Virtual seminar on access to medicines and vaccines, 8 December 2021

Human Rights Council resolution 41/10, requested the High Commissioner to organize an full-day intersessional seminar on good practices, key challenges and new developments relevant to access to medicines and vaccines as one of the fundamental elements of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. View event page

Central role of the State in responding to pandemics and other health emergencies (2021)

This report (A/HRC/47/23) addresses the central role of the State during pandemics and other health emergencies is to mount a robust health response while upholding human rights. This involves respecting, protecting and fulfilling economic, social and cultural rights, paying particular attention to universal health coverage and universal social protection as fixed pillars in all response, preparedness and recovery efforts. At the same time, it also requires upholding civil andpolitical rights such as the rights to participate in public affairs, freedom of expression and freedom of association. View report page