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World leaders have not done enough to achieve their goal of vaccinating 70% of people in each country by September, campaigners with the People’s Vaccine Alliance warned ahead of the second virtual summit on COVID-19 hosted by US President Biden along with Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal. The World Health Organization’s target of reaching 70% by mid-year is even further out of reach.

Rich and poor countries alike have exacerbated an explosion of economic inequality since the outbreak of the pandemic from 2020, reveals new research by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI). 

For every new billionaire created during the pandemic — one every 30 hours — nearly a million people could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2022 at nearly the same rate, reveals a new Oxfam brief today. “Profiting from Pain” is published as the World Economic Forum — the exclusive get-together of the global elite in Davos — takes place for the first time face-to-face since COVID-19, a period during which billionaires have enjoyed a huge boost to their fortunes. 

"In lieu of global cooperation and solidarity, pharmaceutical companies are being empowered to act as kingmakers ―deciding who lives and who dies― and using this new-found power to extract subsidies and potentially high prices for new COVID-19 vaccines," said Oxfam today in response to reports that French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, will prioritize the US for any new COVID-19 vaccine.

Given the tremendous financing needs, Oxfam supports a strong IDA20 replenishment. We are calling for a robust policy package that is appropriately ambitious for the next three years, aimed at propelling IDA countries forward towards a just economy after COVID-19 that is more equal and inclusive.

Yemenis are battling a third wave of COVID, which threatens 99 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated, Oxfam said today.  

Former UN Human Rights Commissioner and Irish President, Mary Robinson, a vocal advocate for a People’s Vaccine has joined calls of 174 former world leaders and Nobel laureates for a patent waiver at the international level. This was prompted by news that US President Biden is considering supporting a proposal at the WTO that would temporarily suspend Covid-19 vaccine patents. 

“The pharmaceutical industry’s attempt to rubbish the World Health Organisation’s initiative suggests that they care more for profits than people’s health," said Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager for Oxfam, in response to the World Health Organisation’s call for governments to back a voluntary scheme to share trial data and patents relating to vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus.

Responding to news that the EU has discarded at least 215 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Piotr Kolczyński, EU Health Policy Advisor at the People’s Vaccine Alliance and Oxfam, said: “This is further proof that the EU wasted millions of its COVID-19 vaccines, hoarded early in the pandemic, as it locked poorer countries out of access.  

The global repercussions of the Ukraine crisis ―already being felt in fast-rising food, commodity and energy prices― could undermine official aid efforts to help people in other humanitarian hot-spots.