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In upcoming Race and Regulation Series lecture, Columbia Law’s Olatunde C.A. Johnson will present ‘Vaccination Equity by Design’

February 24, 2022

Johnson’s lecture is the third of five Race and Regulation Series lectures scheduled this spring.

On March 1, as part of the 2021-2022 Lecture Series on Race and Regulation, Olatunde C.A. Johnson of Columbia Law School will examine the drivers of racial inequity in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Drawing on a recently published essay in the Yale Law Journal, Johnson will discuss how regulatory tools could have been used more effectively to promote equity in vaccine access – and what can be learned not only for the next public health emergency, but also for addressing racial disparities in other policy areas.

Johnson is the Jerome B. Sherman Professor of Law at Columbia. She has helped shape the national conversation on modern civil rights legislation, anti-discrimination, fair housing, congressional power, and innovations to address discrimination and inequality.

The Race and Regulation Lecture Series is organized by the Penn Program on Regulation (PPR) and co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Office of Equity and Inclusion as part of the “Achieving Racial Justice” colloquium launched in 2020. Johnson’s lecture also is co-sponsored by the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. The series examines how government regulation has contributed to racial inequities and how regulatory policy changes can help dismantle racist structures in society.

Other lecturers slated for the spring are as follows:

  • March 23Ming Hsu Chen, Visiting Professor of Law, UC Hastings College of Law: “Race, Citizenship, and Political Inequality”

  • April 5Daniel E. Ho, William Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science, Stanford Law School: “Administrative Law’s Racial Blind Spot”

Johnson will present “Vaccination Equity by Design (with Lessons for Designing Equitable Housing, Transportation, and Education Policy)” on Tuesday, March 1 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET via Zoom. All Race and Regulation lectures are free and open to the public.

For videos of previous Race and Regulation lectures, visit the PPR’s YouTube channel for a playlist of the recordings.

Register for Johnson’s webinar.

Learn more about all of the Race and Regulation lectures scheduled this spring.