To Boris Johnson and pharmaceutical companies:
Back a People’s Vaccine, not a profit vaccine! Suspend Covid-19 vaccine patents, and make sure vaccine technology and know-how are immediately shared, so enough can be made for everyone.
Why is this important:
No one is safe from Covid-19 until everyone is safe.
Yet big pharmaceutical companies refuse to pause patents and some rich countries refuse to support low-income countries to scale up vaccine production.
This has left 3 billion people in low-income countries completely unvaccinated.
If vaccine patents were paused and vital information was shared freely, qualified manufacturers globally could make Covid vaccines at the scale we urgently need and reduce the risk of new variants.
Getting a grip on the crisis through global vaccination could transform the lives of women and girls who have shouldered the worst of the pandemic. Not only have they led the front-line response to Covid-19, but they have endured a massive increase in domestic violence and many girls had to leave education in order to care for family.
That is why women and girls from India to Senegal and Palestine are joining millions of us to tell governments and big pharmaceutical companies to back a free vaccine for everyone, everywhere.
Join us – sign the petition urging Boris Johnson and big pharmaceutical companies to suspend the patents so we can have a People’s Vaccine, not a Profit Vaccine.
The health department in Limpopo, South Africa, bringing the covid-19 vaccination to rural areas. Photo: Mukurukuru Media