140 world leaders call for vaccines to be free, available to all

The letter called for a "mandatory worldwide pooling of patents and sharing of all COVID–19-related knowledge."

By TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
Vaccine (illustrative) (photo credit: WALLPAPER FLARE)
Vaccine (illustrative)
(photo credit: WALLPAPER FLARE)
Over 140 leaders signed an open letter on Thursday calling for the coronavirus vaccine, once developed, to be a people's vaccine, meaning mass-produced, available to all, fairly distributed and free.
The leaders include South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Senegal President Macky Sall and Ghana President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who signed the letter coordinated by UNAIDS and Oxfam.
The letter – which came as companies around the globe are producing effective vaccines – demanded that all vaccines, and not just one developed to tackle the novel COVID-19, be people's vaccines.
“Billions of people today await a vaccine that is our best hope of ending this pandemic,” said Ramaphosa. “As the countries of Africa, we are resolute that the COVID-19 vaccine must be patent-free, rapidly made and distributed, and free for all. All the science must be shared between governments.”
He stated, "Nobody should be pushed to the back of the vaccine queue because of where they live or what they earn."
The letter called for a "mandatory worldwide pooling of patents and sharing of all COVID–19-related knowledge, data and technologies in order to ensure that any nation can produce or buy affordable doses of vaccines, treatments and tests."
It also called for the global creation and distribution of the vaccines. The distribution would be according to need rather than financial influences.
"Our world will only be safer once everyone can benefit from the science and access a vaccine – and that is a political challenge," the letter reads. "Now is not the time to allow the interests of the wealthiest corporations and governments to be placed before the universal need to save lives, or to leave this massive and moral task to market forces."
The letter ends by stating, "Only a people’s vaccine – with equality and solidarity at its core – can protect all of humanity and get our societies safely running again. A bold international agreement cannot wait."
Numerous Israeli companies have offered coronavirus solutions and are in advanced stages of development.