Add Your Name: Close the Global Vaccine Divide - Letter to PM
I've signed this letter to the PM demanding the UK meets its global commitments to supply vaccines to low and medium income countries. No one is safe until we're all safe!
Dear Prime Minister,
As the recent spike in cases of the ‘Indian’ variant across the UK has sadly proven, to save lives at home, we must vaccinate the world.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus this week heard stark evidence from leading experts about the urgent need to achieve the equitable distribution of vaccines across the world. While the vaccine programme here at home continues at pace, the pandemic is surging in lower and middle income nations where vulnerable groups and health workers remain unvaccinated. We are seeing harrowing scenes unfolding in countries such as Nepal or Bangladesh, where Covid cases and deaths are soaring due to the desperate shortage of vaccines.
There is a clear moral imperative to act to close the global vaccine divide. But there is also a rational case to intervene and support vaccination efforts abroad, to stop the threat of variants emerging abroad and taking root in the UK. The longer we wait to act, the more likely it is that dangerous variants could emerge that can evade the protections offered by current vaccines.
The UK has an opportunity to use the G7 summit to show leadership on this critical issue and demonstrate that Global Britain is more than just a slogan. While the UK has rightly committed funding to COVAX, we remain a net importer of Covid-19 vaccines. The APPG on Coronavirus therefore recommends that the UK must immediately adopt a policy of vaccine matching, in which for each dose of the vaccine imported, one dose is donated to COVAX. This will help meet the urgent demand for vaccines in low and middle income countries around the world.
At the same time, the UK should immediately turn its economic might to rapidly expand our domestic vaccine production capability and become a net vaccine exporter. This will help save lives abroad and safeguard our ability to keep the virus at bay, including through booster vaccines adapted to new variants. Finally, the UK government should support the WTO TRIPS waiver proposal, accompanied by the associated transfer of technology, to boost vaccine manufacturing capability in low and middle income countries.
The UK mustn’t miss the opportunity provided by the G7 summit to lead the way in promoting more equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines. Professor Andrew Pollard from the Oxford Vaccine Group, who helped develop the AstraZeneca vaccine, warned us that "many millions could die between now and September”. The UK government has a moral duty to act now to prevent this tragedy unfolding.
As you yourself have stated: “No one is safe until everyone is safe”.
[Signed]
