Medicines Made in Australia: Learning from the Covid Vaccine Legal Experience

Abstract

Despite a salutary experience, Australia remains very much a dependency in a world of pandemics and vaccines.  This empirical study investigates the Covid pandemic experience to assess how Australian law was made to secure the invention, production and procurement of vaccines for the public. The study makes two inquiries. First, why the Australian government looked to the major pharmaceutical companies for the supply of vaccines. Did intellectual property and international trade law oblige it to do so? Second, how the government sought public benefits to flow from the substantial support it gave these companies.  Did it employ public law to apply performance requirements to the companies, especially that they produce vaccines locally?  Updated and revised, this legal experience can now inform the pursuit of the Labor Government’s new Future Made in Australia strategy. That strategy includes a Medical Science Co-investment Plan and an RNA Blueprint. The experience is also informative for other countries seeking to require the pharmaceutical companies to produce locally.

Keywords: Pandemic, Vaccines, Local Production, Government Funding, Performance Requirements, Law Making