In the context of COVID-19, the law has played a key role in seeking to ensure equitable access to testing, medicines and vaccines, but also has the potential to perpetuate abuses against already poor and marginalized populations. As existing and newly developed laws, policies and regulations are used by countries to guide COVID responses, the USC Law & Global Health Collaboration is seeking to understand and highlight the impact of the range of policy responses that governments are taking, their immediate impacts on vulnerable and marginalized populations around the world, and their broader implications for food and housing security, sexual and reproductive health and rights, access to health and social services, and health outcomes more generally.
On April 21, IIGH, in partnership with the USC Law and Global Health Collaboration, hosted Andy Imparato, Executive Director of Disability Rights California and member of the Biden-Harris COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, and Rosario Galarza, Intersectionalities Officer for International Disability Alliance. Imparato shared his experience at the intersections of law and disability spearheading advocacy on crisis standards of care and vaccine prioritization in the last year within the United States, and Galarza brought a global lens with a particular focus on strengthening the inclusion of women with disabilities and people with underrepresented identities in these efforts in countries around the world.
