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Responding to the announcement that COVAX has received more funding and is planning to accelerate its vaccine rollout, Oxfam International’s Head of Inequality Policy, Max Lawson, said: “More funding for COVAX and a quicker rollout of vaccines is a small piece of good news for developing countries struggling to get the doses they need, but at best fewer than a quarter of people in these countries will have been vaccinated by the end of the year."

In response to the announcement today from French President, Emmanuel Macron, that France will support a temporary waiver on intellectual property for COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said: “It is fantastic news that President Macron has joined US President Biden on the right side of history by supporting the calls from India and South Africa, as well as millions of people around the world."

Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people against COVID-19 next year unless urgent action is taken by governments and the pharmaceutical industry to make sure enough doses are produced.

Two-thirds of countries are yet to meet the target of vaccinating 70 percent of people in all countries against COVID-19 set a year ago at the UN General Assembly, according to figures published today by Oxfam and The People’s Vaccine Alliance.

Rich countries have secured almost three times as many courses of a World Health Organisation (WHO)-recommended COVID-19 medicine, Pfizer’s Paxlovid, according to new analysis from Oxfam and the People’s Vaccine Alliance.

The European Parliament has supported an amendment calling for Europe to support the temporary suspension of intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments. In reaction to this vote, Evelien van Roemburg, head of Oxfam EU office, said: "This vote sends a strong signal that Europeans stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of the world in the fight against the pandemic."

Survivors of COVID-19 from 37 countries are among almost 1,000 people who have signed an open letter to pharmaceutical industry leaders calling for a ‘people's vaccine’ and treatments that are available to all – free from patents. The letter comes on the eve of a high-level side event about the pandemic at the UN General Assembly in New York.

One year on from the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the People’s Vaccine Alliance is warning that developing countries are facing critical shortages of oxygen and medical supplies to cope with COVID-19 cases yet the majority have been unable to administer a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In contrast rich nations have vaccinated their citizens at a rate of one person per second over the last month.