Galvanising momentum for universal vaccination

25 February 2022

Greetings.

This is a vital debate, with potential impact on millions of lives – or deaths.

COVID-19 vaccines remain a key tool to control the impact of the pandemic. The global inequity in access to these vaccines is not only profoundly unjust, it is also deeply counterproductive – generating threats to us all.

Unvaccinated people are far more likely to be hospitalized, and to die. This is not simply a belief or opinion, but a medical fact and reality. New variants that are more contagious – and could evade existing protections – are more likely to emerge among unvaccinated populations, posing fresh threats to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Vaccine inequity is also leading to highly divergent recoveries – pushing less-developed regions, and countries, further behind.

Selfish, narrowly national approaches will only prolong the crisis. As Dr. Tedros has reminded us – and I take this opportunity to emphasise my admiration and support for the work that WHO is doing – “It is premature for any country either to surrender, or to declare victory. This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes.” Put at its simplest, none of us is safe until all of us are safe.

Vaccine inequity creates medical crises, human rights crises, development crises,  social and economic crises and political crises.

The people most affected are those who suffer the most from discrimination and inequalities – both within nations, and between them. Grievances related to the pandemic's heavy social and economic impact – which are prolonged by insufficient vaccination levels – also have the potential to escalate tensions, violence and political instability. 

So much of this suffering and fear is preventable.

WHO projections show sufficient supply to vaccinate the entire adult population of our planet by the first quarter of 2022. We need to make sure that we deliver, urgently, on our human rights obligations to provide universal access to available vaccines – now and in the future.

We need Member States to urgently prioritize action, through COVAX, to ensure that vaccines reach everyone. States that are well advanced in their vaccination programmes should expand, accelerate, and systematize dose donations, with sufficient shelf lives and cooperation on distribution and logistics. We no longer have the excuse in the developed world that production constraints limit our generosity, as reports surface of tens of millions of excess vaccines expiring unused. Receiving States should also devote priority resources to ensuring vaccines reach the full range of their people.

The pandemic reinforces the obligation of international cooperation and assistance to ensure universal and equitable access to vaccines for COVID-19.  It is now 16 months since South Africa and India called for a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights under the so-called “TRIPS” agreement, a proposal supported now by more than 100 countries but which has not yet been adopted. That step, as well as efforts such as WHO supported technology transfer hubs, need urgent support.

We need to promote more transnational research and exchange between developed and developing countries, to diversify production.  Pharmaceutical companies, like all businesses, have responsibilities to respect human rights, as set out in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This includes human rights due diligence to assess the impacts of vaccine pricing, sales and distribution on people in vulnerable circumstances.

And we must also address vaccine hesitancy - another global threat - by ensuring factual and timely information reaches all people, everywhere.

I commend the decision to negotiate what has been called a ‘pandemic treaty’ to better manage future threats in the shared interest of all. The full and broadest possible participation of State, inter-governmental, medical and wider civil society actors in the drafting process will be key, as is ensuring that the text is grounded in and built on our universal human rights.

Above all, I strongly urge States to build today's response and recovery policies on the firm ground of human rights law and standards. We need to reinvest in economic and social rights – to create more comprehensive welfare systems, more effective social protection measures and universal access to health care and education, as outlined in “Our Common Agenda”. Because the next pandemic will not wait for us to do so.  

By placing human rights at the centre of our response, we can still rise out of this crisis with measures that prepare a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient world.