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World leaders’ UNGA pledge to vaccinate world falls woefully short as only a third of countries meet target

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.

The campaign groups said there had been a massive failure to deliver on the promise despite President Biden persuading world leaders to commit to meeting the World Health Organization target.

They are calling for leaders to radically shift their approach for the current and future pandemics by prioritising sustainable, local manufacturing in all regions of the world to ensure developing countries get equal access to vaccines, tests and treatments. They said the continued approach of leaving Big Pharma in charge of the response has prolonged the pandemic for all of us and continues to cause havoc the world cannot afford.

The death toll from COVID-19 is four times higher in lower-income countries, where less than half (48 percent) the population have had their full initial round of vaccinations. At the current rate, it will take almost two and a half years for 70 percent of people in the poorest countries to be fully vaccinated. Meanwhile rich countries are already beginning to rollout booster programmes and in some cases fifth shots, using the new generation vaccines, the majority of which have been ordered by rich nations.

At the same time, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are continuing to reap huge profits while refusing to work with the WHO to share their vaccine technology, despite it being funded by public money.

Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, said: “This massive failure to meet promises to protect the world from COVID-19 is indefensible. While the end of the pandemic should be in sight, hundreds of millions of people in developing countries are still unprotected from COVID-19. We are calling on President Biden and other world leaders not to turn their backs on them while the virus continues to kill and cause devastation to people’s livelihoods.

“It is time to radically redesign a system that puts pharma profits ahead of people’s lives. Developing countries need access to vaccines, tests and treatments at the same time as rich countries, not years later after people have died. We are seeing the same deadly inequality for COVID-19 treatments and now for monkeypox vaccines, governments must not allow this to continue.”

Lack of vaccination means the need for COVID-19 tests and treatments is even greater in poorer nations but inequality in access is even starker, yet rich nations are at this moment fiercely resisting any attempt to extend the WTO agreement on vaccines to tests and treatments. Reports from the ACT-Accelerator indicated that almost no doses of any outpatient antivirals are available in low- and middle-income countries.

The campaign groups said this persistent gap demonstrates the massive failings in the international response to COVID-19, which continually ignored the need to diversify manufacturing so that developing countries could make their own doses and manage their own supply concurrently with deliveries to rich countries. They are calling for leaders to:

  • Implement an immediate extension of the June 2022 WTO decision on COVID-19 vaccine patents to include tests and treatments – there can be no justification for delay.
  • Support and protect the World Health Organisation led mRNA technology transfer hub, including demanding Moderna withdraw patents in South Africa and ensure the hub has freedom to develop Covid-19 and other life-saving vaccines now and into the future.
  • Deliver a Pandemic Treaty that delivers life-saving vaccines, tests and treatments as global public goods, free of the monopoly control of pharmaceutical corporations.
  • Commit to an unprecedented scale up of financing to strengthen country health systems in low and middle-income countries and global funding support to close the vaccination coverage gaps for low- and middle-income countries that have yet to hit the 70 percent target.
  • Reject Big Pharma led proposals – the so-called Berlin Declaration – which would leave full control of who lives and who dies in their hands.

A recent report found that a combination of unpredictable vaccine supplies, lack of antiviral treatments and poor funding for health systems led to lower vaccination rates in developing countries, and that vaccine hesitancy was being used as an excuse to mask the international failures in the COVID-19 response.

Maaza Seyoum, Global South Convenor of the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said: “Everyone everywhere should have access to the tools needed to fight a pandemic, But COVID-19 has been a case of survival of the richest. For most of this pandemic, big pharmaceutical companies left people in developing countries to die without vaccines and treatments while they sold doses to rich governments in the global north.

“Now, big pharma is trying to rewrite history, claiming that the industry will voluntarily ensure global access to medicines in the next pandemic. We know from COVID-19 that this isn’t true. Governments cannot rely on the good will of pandemic profiteers to do the right thing. We need to overhaul this system to put human life before private profit.”

The People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of over 100 organisations, have distributed posters across New York, host of the UN General Assembly, describing the COVID-19 pandemic as “survival of the richest”.

 

Notes to editors:

A discussion hosted by the People’s Vaccine Alliance and others on ensuring justice, equity and human rights in response to global health threats, will take place on Thursday 22 September at 12.30PM US time at the Yale Club in New York. Media interested in attending can register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKU8MtTbqFumoM-mntjTzrW8MUPXV9DwYmX3dWruo7M7LP_Q/viewform

A map of locations where photographers can find Survival of the Richest posters is available here. The red “Dedicated Site PVA” marking will be maintained by campaigners throughout UNGA high level week: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1chRWsUsTHA4BoBXxFPbh5LqtmNeVfFI&usp=sharing

A recent report from Matahari Global Solutions, Treatment Preparedness Coalition and the People’s Vaccine Alliance found that unpredictable vaccine supplies, lack of antiviral treatments and poor funding for health systems led to low vaccination rates and limited the ability to treat patients. https://itpcglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mapping-Access-Gaps-in-COVID-19.pdf

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) is pressuring governments to take a greater role to fund, support, de-risk, and provide data for research and development. But they want governments to hand companies a monopoly on the resulting drugs and to waive liability for any adverse impacts. In return, the industry claims it will do better to improve “equity” in the next pandemic, proposing the same voluntary measures that failed during COVID-19 in a lobbying paper dubbed the “Berlin Declaration”.

Data sourced from Our World in Data on 14.9.22

  • A search of the 194 members of the WHO on Our World in Data found that 60 countries have reached the 70 percent target, 129 are below and 5 have not reported any data.
  • The rate of people being fully vaccinated is based on the number of people who were reported as fully vaccinated between 07/06/2022 and 04/09/2022 – 37,253,644 people or 418,580 per day on average. 70 percent of the population of low-income countries, minus those who have already been fully vaccinated is, 368,878,851. Dividing this figure by the daily average rate of vaccination gives 881 days until the target is reached. This figure does include Rwanda who are the only low-income country to have already reached the 70 percent target, but it is not possible to exclude them from the dataset we are using – the difference including them makes to the overall figure is negligible though.

Humanitarian organisations estimate one person dying of hunger every four seconds

As world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly, 238 civil society organisations demand urgent action to save lives now.

With one person estimated to be dying of hunger every four seconds, 238 local and international non-governmental organisations are calling on leaders gathering at the 77th UN General Assembly to take decisive action to end the spiralling global hunger crisis.

Organisations from 75 countries have signed an open letter expressing outrage at skyrocketing hunger levels and recommendations for action. A staggering 345 million people are now experiencing acute hunger, a number that has more than doubled since 2019.

Despite promises from world leaders to never allow famine again in the 21st century, famine is once more imminent in Somalia. Around the world, 50 million people are on the brink of starvation in 45 countries. 

Mohanna Ahmed Ali Eljabaly from the Yemen Family Care Association, one of the letter’s signatories, said:

“It is abysmal that with all the technology in agriculture and harvesting techniques today we are still talking about famine in the 21st century. This is not about one country or one continent and hunger never only has one cause. This is about the injustice of the whole of humanity. It is extremely difficult to see people suffering while others sharing the same planet have plenty of food. We must not wait a moment longer to focus both on providing immediate lifesaving food and longer-term support so people can take charge of their futures and provide for themselves and their families.”

Sumaya, a 32-year-old mother who lives with her four children in a displacement camp in the Somali region of Ethiopia, is one of the millions facing catastrophic levels of hunger.

“No water, no food, a hopeless life,” she said. “Above all, my children are starving. They are on the verge of death. Unless they get some food, I’m afraid they will die.”

The global hunger crisis has been fuelled by a deadly mix of poverty, social injustice, gender inequality, conflict, climate change, and economic shocks, with the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine further driving up food prices and the cost of living.

Those with the power and money to change this must come together to better respond to current crises and prevent and prepare for future ones.

 

NOTES TO EDITOR

  1. The calculations of the estimated mortality rate from hunger per second was calculated by applying the IPC crude death rate cut offs for IPC Phase 3, minus a normal daily death rate of 0.22 per 10,000 people per day, to the recent Global Report on Food Crises mid-year update for 2022 (released 12/09/22) figure which is 205.1 million people in IPC Phase 3 Acute Food Insecurity or worse (IPC Phases: 3 Crisis, 4 Emergency and 5 Catastrophe), which require immediate humanitarian assistance. This would equal between 7,745.7 and 19,701.7 people dying daily as a result of acute hunger, and between 5.39 and 13.69 people dying per minute. That translates to one person dying every 4.25 – 12 seconds. This is a conservative estimate since the death rates for people in IPC Phase 4 and 5 are significantly higher.
  2. Current acute hunger levels are 345 million; they were 135 million in 2019. (https://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-5-june-2022).

 

Press release endorsed by:

  • Concern Worldwide
  • Islamic Relief
  • Oxfam International
  • Plan International
  • CARE International
  • World Vision International
  • Save the Children International
  • Action Against Hunger

Oxfam reacts to The Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s report

Responding to The Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s report on lessons for future pandemics, Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager at Oxfam and Policy Co-Lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said:

“The Lancet Commission details the utter failure of rich country leaders and pharmaceutical companies to ensure the tools needed to end this pandemic were accessible to everyone, everywhere. The findings of this commission should shame the international community. Nationalism, racism, profiteering, and an overreaching intellectual property system all prevented lower-income countries from accessing or producing vaccines.

“It is vital that we learn the lessons of this report, end pharma’s deadly monopolies and build more capacity for the development and manufacturing of vaccines, tests and treatments in low and middle-income countries. Governments need to act immediately to extend an agreement made earlier this year on overriding COVID-19 vaccine patents to cover lifesaving treatments and tests. And they must safeguard World Health Organisation backed efforts to produce mRNA vaccine manufacturing on every continent from the threat of litigation from companies like Moderna. The pandemic treaty currently under discussion needs to make clear that saving lives must come before profits and decisions about who lives and who dies are never again outsourced to the CEOs of big pharma.”

 

Notes:

Read the Lancet Commission report here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01585-9/fulltext 

Read more about how Moderna’s patents threaten the WHO-backed South African mRNA hub: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-13/groups-ask-ramaphosa-to-protect-mrna-use-against-moderna-patents

Oxfam responds to latest analysis from IPC on the situation in Somalia

In response to the latest analysis from the Integrated Food Security Classification System (IPC) on the situation in Somalia, Parvin Ngala, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Horn, East, and Central Africa said:

“The situation in Somalia is rapidly deteriorating and the warning that famine is expected as early as October highlights the increasingly narrow window of time to reduce the accelerating loss of life and prevent further suffering.

“Despite numerous alarms raised over the past two years, nearly 6.7 million people are facing very high levels of hunger with nearly 2 million acutely malnourished children – over 50 percent of the total population of children in Somalia. And if the world does not act now, at least 300,000 people will be in famine or similar conditions before the end of the year. The number of people caught up in the crisis is almost double the number of those affected by the famine in 2011 that killed over a quarter of a million people – half of them children under the age of five.

“Humanitarian assistance has helped save lives, but due to low levels of funding this assistance is now expected to decrease sharply and the situation worsen significantly.

“Across East Africa, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are facing the worst drought in 40 years and South Sudan is suffering a fifth consecutive year of severe flooding. On top of ongoing conflict, the COVID-19 economic fallout and surging food prices, these climatic shocks have decimated crops and livestock and eroded people’s ability to cope.

“With the dire situation in Somalia likely to worsen further into 2023 as an unprecedented fifth consecutive failed rainy season is predicted; warnings can no longer be ignored. World leaders and the international community must act now.”

EU Energy Windfall Tax: European countries must aim for 50 – 90 percent rate

Today, European energy ministers agreed on a package of emergency measures to curb the surge in energy prices. The package includes two measures to capture extraordinary profits from energy and fossil fuel companies. This follows the European Commission’s proposal on 14 September.   

In response, Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam EU Tax expert, said: 

“It is great news that European countries have, for the first time ever, agreed to capture some of the extreme excess profits of companies. But now they need to be far more ambitious. This means taxing all sectors profiteering off the global crises at a higher tax rate of between 50 and 90 percent and go beyond 2022.

“If European countries fail to be ambitious, they will only get the crumbs of the colossal corporate profits. Some European countries are already leading the way like Greece with a rate of 90 percent and Spain which is planning to capture excess profits made by banks. European countries must also design the tax in a way to capture the profits hidden in tax havens.

“In the long-term, work must be done at the global level to implement permanent windfall taxes that capture all excess profits and redistribute the revenues fairly to countries where companies have their real economic activity rather than funnelling them away in tax havens. This is the way to fight inflation and inequality. It is sheer madness that we are living in a world where companies are cashing in on the pain of ordinary people, people who are struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes.”

 

Notes:

Oxfam experts are available for interview or comment.

Today, European Energy Ministers agreed on a package of emergency measures to curb the rise in energy prices. This follows the European Commission’s proposal on 14 September. The final package includes: 

  • A “temporary solidarity contribution” on fossil fuel companies to recoup one-third (33 percent) of excess profits made in 2022 and/or 2023. Excess profit is defined as profit exceeding the average of the last four years (2018 – 2021) by 20 percent. This is a threshold rate and EU countries can apply a higher rate. Revenue will be funnelled to consumers and companies to cushion the impact of high energy bills, and to invest in green energy. 
  • A price cap on revenue made by non-gas energy companies (wind, solar, nuclear, etc): The cap will be set at 180 euros per megawatt hour and the price difference will be recycled back to consumers and decarbonisation technologies, like renewable energy.   

Countries have until 31 December 2022 to implement the measures if they do not already have an equivalent measure in place.

Oxfam recently published a new media briefing, The Case for Windfall Taxes. It includes new data on how much excess profits companies have made and how much revenue a global windfall tax could recoup.  

  • 1000 of the world’s biggest companies have recorded excess profits of 1.15 trillion dollars in 2020 and 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic period – an increase of 68.5 percent. 
  • We could raise more than 1000 billion dollars globally with a tax of 90 percent on the windfall profit of 1000 of the world’s biggest companies.

Many European countries have already introduced or are in the process of introducing a windfall tax – for a full list, see the table in Oxfam’s recent media briefing, The Case for Windfall Taxes. Oxfam recommends countries implement their own measures if they are more ambitious than the EU proposal.

Oxfam calls for a windfall tax that:

  • is ambitious, sector-wide, and automatic;
  • has a rate between 50 – 90 percent (if the tax base is calculated only on excess profit and exceeds 10 percent of the average of the previous years);
  • prevents an increase in consumer costs by stopping companies from passing on the costs to consumers;
  • redistributes revenues to those most affected by the crisis, both at home and abroad;
  • uses a tax base that captures the most excess profit and takes into account the real economic activity of a company in a country. A 2020 analysis showed that some EU countries would capture more excess profit by designing a tax base that takes into account the real economic activity of the company rather than profit.

The IMF recently suggested a permanent coordinated windfall tax (a) targeting economic rents (defined by the IMF as returns in excess of the opportunity cost of the investment – this means an amount of money earned that exceeds that which is economically necessary) and (b) based on the globally consolidated profit of multinationals (global profit of the entire group) allocated to countries according to sales. 

Pakistan floods: Oxfam begins relief response and calls for coordinated international action

Oxfam is mounting a humanitarian response to the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan working with a network of local partner organisations. Relief efforts will focus on two of the hardest-hit provinces of Balochistan and Sindh in the south-west of the country. The response will target 25,000 families and households affected by the floods.

Oxfam’s partners are already working to help displaced people and they will decide on the most important support that local people most need, but efforts will likely be concentrated on emergency food, water and sanitation, including things like personal hygiene kits and temporary shelters.

Oxfam is seeking to raise over US$5 million to channel into local organisations over the next 12 months to expand their work. The international aid organisation is warning that recovery and rebuilding efforts will take time and will require a very large coordinated international response.

Oxfam Pakistan staff say the wild and heavy monsoon rain has produced a climate-induced humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Pakistan has declared a national emergency with more than 33 million people, or 15 percent of the population, affected; more than 1,000 people killed; a million homes and two million hectares of crop lands destroyed. These figures will grow. Oxfam is calling on a proportionate huge response of aid by the international community.

Farah Munawar, Resilience and Livelihoods Project Manager, Oxfam Pakistan, said:

“Many of those who have lost their homes are now living on roadsides, leading to serious security and safety issues specifically for women and girls, but also the wider community. There is insufficient access to clean drinking water, hygiene, toilets and sanitation facilities. Women and girls have extremely poor access to hygiene supplies.

“Affected people in Pakistan require urgent access to basic resources and facilities, including clean water, food and shelter.”

Syed Shahnawaz Ali, Country Director, Oxfam Pakistan, said:

“We have to say it as it is — the humanitarian and environmental devastation we are experiencing is a result of climate change. Floods are not uncommon in Pakistan, but this is flooding on a scale bigger than anything we have ever seen.

“The rain patterns have become very unpredictable, and we are bracing for further downpours in September. It seems very likely that the scale of the challenges we face are bigger than we have seen reported so far. Further work is required to assess the full extent of this unfolding crisis.

“Oxfam is ramping up relief efforts and we’re calling for coordinated international action to tackle the enormous scale of this catastrophe. Only a well-resourced international response can prevent further loss of human life and injury over the coming weeks and months.

“It remains deeply unjust that Pakistan, which is responsible for less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, is one of the countries most vulnerable to severe weather due to the effects of climate change. It should be clear that Pakistan should not be made to pay the price for the carbon emissions of the richest countries in the world.”

 

Please give to Oxfam Aotearoa’s Pakistan Disaster Response fund.

Notes:

  • 33 million affected – that’s almost six times New Zealand’s population
  • An area the size of Aotearoa flooded
  • Over 1,000 people dead since June
  • Roads: 3,037 km damaged
  • Bridges: 130 bridge damaged
  • Shops: 109 shops damaged
  • Houses: 495,259 houses have been (197,182 fully and 298,077 partially) damaged
  • Livestock: 708,098 livestock perished

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Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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