With the arrival of vaccines, hopes are growing that the coronavirus pandemic will soon be brought to an end. But no one will be safe until we are all safe. That's why it's vital that the vaccine is accessible to everyone. And to achieve this, we need to take action. Share the vaccine, not the virus.
International collaboration
Despite declarations by world leaders to make vaccines a public good, there has been little international collaboration to ensure equal access for everyone everywhere. The rich countries, which account for only 14% of the world's population, have reserved more than half of the vaccines promised by pharmaceutical companies for 2021. They have even sabotaged international initiatives to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines.
If nothing changes, 9 to 10 people in low-income countries will not have access to the vaccine this year. This means that vulnerable groups and healthcare workers in poor countries will have to wait longer for vaccination than young, healthy people in rich countries.
The vaccine must be put in the hands of the public authorities
Patents stand like a wall between vaccines and the people who need them, in two ways. Firstly, pharmaceutical companies determine the price of their vaccines themselves, thanks to patents, even though the vaccines were developed with public funding. As a result, vaccines are too expensive in many countries. Some companies have promised to put their coronavirus vaccines on the market at cost price, but this is impossible to verify due to a lack of transparency. In addition, patents prevent a vaccine from being produced on a large scale. Pharmaceutical companies restrict the production of their vaccine to a limited number of suppliers, who cannot meet the urgent global demand.
Control of the price and production of vaccines, developed with public funds, should therefore be the responsibility of the authorities and not the pharmaceutical companies. This will enable more people to be vaccinated much more quickly, and protect us all more quickly.
Strengthening public healthcare
Facing a pandemic is an immense challenge. We can meet it if we have strong public healthcare throughout the world. In the short term, strong public healthcare with local health centres is essential for a large-scale and effective vaccination campaign. If the authorities do not invest in the infrastructure needed to distribute and transport vaccines, in front-line healthcare and in sufficient numbers of trained medical staff, the coronavirus vaccine will remain inaccessible to far too many people, first and foremost those who have been hard hit by the pandemic. A strong public healthcare system makes it possible to implement vaccination campaigns without jeopardising other essential medical services.
In the long term, strong public health care is needed to prevent or better manage such a health crisis. Front-line care and bonds of trust between carers and patients are important for informing the public, detecting infection at an early stage and effectively monitoring high-risk contacts. In addition, healthcare policy on crisis management must give a central place to consultation and collaboration with healthcare staff, affected communities and social movements.
What do we need to do?
1. Ensure fair distribution of vaccines
Our government must do everything it can to ensure that vaccines are distributed fairly via the World Health Organisation.
2. Freeing vaccines from patents, sharing knowledge and technology
The public authorities have already funded research, development and production. In order to ramp up vaccine production, our country and the European Commission must ensure that coronavirus vaccines are placed on the market without patents and that pharmaceutical companies share their knowledge and technology rather than privatising them.
3. Investing in public healthcare worldwide
Facing up to a pandemic is a huge challenge. It requires solid public healthcare, everywhere in the world. Our government can contribute to this through its development cooperation,
- countering the growing role of private players
- using the health budget to strengthen public health care, instead of programmes for specific diseases.
Take part
Sign this European Citizens' Initiative so that the European Commission to take steps to make vaccines and anti-pandemic treatments a global public good, freely accessible to all.
Together, we are strengthening social movements around the world to defend strong public healthcare, capable of dealing decisively with a health crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
