Covid-19 vaccines must be affordable for everyone, says Open Society Foundations

The Open Society Foundations has called for Covid-19 vaccines, diagnostics and treatments to be made affordable and accessible to everyone, everywhere.

The organisation said on Friday G20 nations have a vaccine surplus of 173-million doses. This surplus was in contrast to low-income countries where just 13% of people have received even a single dose.

Covid-19 to date has seen disastrous nationalism and inequity that has prolonged a virus which has claimed 6-million lives and pushed more than 100-million people into poverty. 

The Open Society Foundations is the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance and human rights.

“We have to learn to do better — and fast — before another dangerous variant or pandemic emerges.

“The only way we will succeed is to make vaccines, diagnostics and treatments affordable and accessible to everyone, everywhere,” said Mark Malloch-Brown, president of Open Society Foundations.

There are more than 100 facilities globally that could start producing more vaccines if pharmaceutical companies shared intellectual property and manufacturing know-how. 

“For too long the Global South has been pushed aside. It is beyond time that we unleashed its full manufacturing power to bring Covid-19  under control everywhere and prepare for the inevitable pandemics of the future.”

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