Oxfam reaction to the 2021 Global Health Summit

For immediate release

Reacting to the 2021 Global Health Summit Anna Marriott, Oxfam Health Policy Manager and Policy co-lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance said:

"The trickle of charity promised at the summit today was the sound of a bucket of water being thrown on a forest fire.

"World leaders talked eloquently about the bottle-necks that are limiting vaccine manufacture and supply and the gross inequalities of global vaccinations, but their solutions remain the same tired ones that have failed billions of people who remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to infection. Nine people are dying every minute while the vaccine stores of COVAX – a multilateral initiative to get vaccines to developing countries – lie empty.

"Governments representing the vast majority of the world’s people are calling for an end to the corporate vaccine monopolies and demanding the mandatory sharing of the rights in order to produce more doses. But a handful of rich countries are continuing to put their relationships with big pharma ahead of ending this pandemic.

"G20 leaders have once again ceded control of this pandemic to a handful of pharmaceutical corporations which have had more than a year to voluntarily share their intellectual property and know-how but have instead put profits before people at every turn."

/ends

For more information or interviews contact Tania Corbett - tcorbett1@oxfam.org.uk +44 7824 824 359