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Pharmaceutical Giants Shell Out Billions to Shareholders as World Confronts Vaccine Apartheid

Total pay-outs enough to vaccinate 1.3 billion people, equal to the population of Africa

Ahead of shareholder meetings for the giant pharmaceutical corporations, the People’s Vaccine Alliance calculates that Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have paid out $26 billion in dividends and stock buybacks to their shareholders in the past 12 months.

This would be enough to pay to vaccinate at least 1.3bn people, the equivalent of the population of Africa.

The shareholder meetings begin on 22nd April with Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson followed by Moderna and Astra Zeneca in the coming weeks. Protests are expected outside the meetings in the US and UK while investors inside the meetings will be presenting resolutions to expand vaccine access. There is a growing backlash against the de facto privatisation of successful Covid-19 vaccines and pressure on the pharma firms to openly license the intellectual property and share the technology and know-how with qualified vaccine producers across the world.

While the global economy remains frozen due to the slow and uneven vaccine rollout worldwide, the soaring shares of vaccine makers has created a new wave of billionaires.

The founder of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, is now worth $5.9. billion and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel $5.2 billion. According to regulatory filings, Bancel has cashed out more than $142 million in Moderna stock since the pandemic began. Many other investors have also become billionaires in the last few months, while the International Chamber of Commerce projects a worst-case GDP loss of $9 trillion due to global vaccine inequity.

“This is a public health emergency, not a private profit opportunity,” said Oxfam Health Policy Manager Anna Marriott. “We should not be letting corporations decide who lives and who dies while boosting their profits. We need a people’s vaccine, not a profit vaccine.”

‘Vaccine apartheid is not a natural phenomenon but the result of governments stepping back and allowing corporations to call the shots. Instead of creating new vaccine billionaires we need to be vaccinating billions in developing countries. It is appalling that Big Pharma is making huge pay-outs to wealthy shareholders in the face of this global health emergency,” Marriott said.

While one in four citizens of rich nations have had a vaccine, just one in 500 people in poorer countries have done so, meaning the death toll continues to climb as the virus remains out of control. Epidemiologists are predicting we have less than a year before mutations could render the current vaccines ineffective.

One of the reasons Pharma companies have been able to generate such large profits is because of intellectual property rules that restrict production to a handful of companies.

Last week, 175 former heads of state and Nobel Prize winners, including Helen Clark, Gordon Brown and Francoise Hollande wrote to President Biden to ask him to support the temporary waiving of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines to enable the rapid scale up of vaccine production across the world. They join the 1.5 million people in the US and other nations who have signalled their support for a Peoples Vaccine.

Over 100 low- and middle-income nations, led by India and South Africa, are calling at the World Trade Organisation for a waiver of intellectual property protections on Covid-19 products during the pandemic, a move so far opposed by the US, EU and other rich nations. New Zealand has not yet come out in support or in opposition to the waiver proposal. The Biden administration is reportedly considering dropping US opposition to the waiver, with the US Trade Representative saying at the WTO that ‘the market once again has failed in meeting the health needs of developing countries.’

Moderna, Pfizer/BioNtech, Johnson & Johnson, Novovax and Oxford/AstraZeneca received billions in public funding and guaranteed pre-orders, including $12 billion from the US government alone. They also made use of many years of publicly funded research and discoveries. Researchers for Universities Allied for Essential Medicines found that only 3% of the R&D costs to develop the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and its underlying technology was privately funded. AstraZeneca is producing and supplying the vaccine at no profit during the pandemic.

“These vaccines were funded by public money and are desperately needed worldwide if we are to end this pandemic,” said Heidi Chow, Senior Campaigns and Policy Manager at Global Justice Now.

“It’s morally bankrupt for rich country leaders to allow a small group of corporations to keep the vaccine technology and know-how under lock and key while selling their limited doses to the highest bidder.” Chow added.

Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech’s successful mRNA vaccines are set to become two of the three bestselling pharmaceutical products in the world. The companies are projecting revenues of $33.5 billion in 2021 from their vaccines.

Their vaccines are also the most expensive, ranging from $13.50 to $74 per course, with both firms looking to increase prices.  In an investor call, Pfizer cited between $150 and $170 a dose as the typical price it receives for vaccines. This is despite a study from the Imperial College in London showing that the cost of production of new mRNA vaccines could be between 60 cents and $2 a dose.

The two firms have also sold the vast majority of their doses to rich nations. Moderna has so far allotted 97% of their vaccines to wealthy countries and Pfizer 85%. Co-developed with the US Government’s National Institutes of Health, Moderna’s vaccine is likely to make $5 billion in profits in 2021. The company received $5.45 billion in public subsidy. 

All the major pharmaceutical companies are fiercely opposed to the open sharing of technology and the suspension of intellectual property protections. The CEO of Pfizer responded to moves by the WHO to pool vaccine technology to enable other qualified producers to make vaccines by saying he thought it was ‘nonsense, and… it’s also dangerous.’

The African Alliance’s Maaza Seyoum, who is leading the People’s Vaccine Alliance’s Africa efforts said ‘Big business as usual will not end this pandemic. This is clearer now more than ever. President Biden has an historic opportunity to show that he will put the health of all of humanity and shared economic prosperity ahead of the private profits of a few corporations.’

/ENDS

 

Notes to Editors

The People’s Vaccine Alliance is a movement of health, humanitarian and human rights organisations, past and present world leaders, health experts, faith leaders and economists advocating that Covid 19 vaccines are manufactured rapidly and at scale, as global common goods, free of intellectual property protections and made available to all people, in all countries, free of charge.  www.peoplesvaccine.org

More information of each of the leading western vaccine producers: Oxford/ Astra Zeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer/ BioNtech, Moderna/NIH and Novovax can be found in the Oxfam media brief, Shot at Recovery.

The total shareholder payouts is the sum of Total Dividends Paid and Share Repurchases in the companies’ financial year 2020, as found in company financial filings. The average vaccine cost, $19, is based on the median average of the 5 leading vaccine producers. At this price, the $25.74 billion in shareholder pay-outs could pay for 1.354 billion doses. The Peoples Vaccine does not endorse a price of $19 dollars and is only using this as an illustration.  Prices can and should be far lower than this to make vaccinating the world possible.  The population of Africa is estimated by the UN to be 1.36 billion people.

The AGM dates are: Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson – 22nd April 2021; Moderna – 28th April 2021; Novavax – Not listed yet; AstraZeneca – 11th May 2021.

The New Zealand Government has not yet come out in support of the proposal to waive intellectual property rights on coronavirus products, including the vaccine, for the duration of the pandemic. Instead, it has put its efforts behind encouraging the pharmaceutical corporations to voluntarily share their intellectual property, know-how and technical capacity.

 

For interviews or more information please contact:

Joanna Spratt, Joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz, Ph: 0210-664-210

 

TABLE: SUMMARIZING MEASURABLE INDICATORS TOWARD A PEOPLE’S VACCINE

Table: summarizing measurable indicators toward a people’s vaccine

[1] Transparency in public funding is lacking across all the COVID-19 vaccine developers, making firm figures difficult. Oxfam has arrived at these estimates by analyzing the research and development, manufacturing and advanced purchase deals made between the companies and some governments, notably the US. While Oxfam attempted to include all sources of public funding across these 3 areas (research and development, manufacturing and procurement), we were not able to be comprehensive due to contract opacity. Note also that these sums do not include the public investments in years of early research, which preceded COVID but was essential to these vaccines succeeding. Theses amounts also do not include purely philanthropic contributions. As a result, these estimates are conservative, and likely much less than the total public investments.

Earth Day summit must catalyze global climate action

On the eve of the Earth Day Summit, Oxfam is calling for President Biden and world leaders attending the virtual summit, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, to urgently ramp up ambition to tackle the climate crisis.

“To make up for years of inaction, the US must take urgent and inclusive action that transforms systems and institutions to address the climate crisis and work for marginalized communities,” said Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America. “Climate change and inequality are two sides of the same coin and the Earth Day Summit must only be the starting point for tackling these crises together.”

The poorest half of the world’s population —3.1 billion people— is responsible for just a small fraction of dangerous carbon emissions. Yet, it is the poorest and most vulnerable people —those with fewest resources and who have done the least to cause the problem— who are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. The richest 10 percent of people in the world, on the other hand, produced over half of global emissions.

The needs of the most vulnerable must be at the heart of both the Earth Day Summit and the Biden administration’s climate agenda. As the biggest historical emitter, the US in particular has a responsibility to reduce its emissions urgently and ambitiously, and help the poorest respond and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

“US climate action must be grounded in global justice and be a moral statement as much as it is a political and scientific one,” said Maxman. “The US owes it to the world’s most vulnerable to put forward a climate target that contributes its fair share of global emissions reductions and is ambitious as possible. Anything less will be seen as avoiding our global responsibilities to support those who are already suffering from the devastating impacts of climate change.”

The Paris Agreement, now five years old, was an historic turning point in tackling the global climate crisis. Countries agreed to set voluntary emissions reductions targets with an aim to limit global warming to 1.5°C while also increasing the ability of countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change. However, most countries are not taking enough action to meet their climate goals.

“Bringing the world’s largest emitters and vulnerable countries together at the Earth Day Summit, President Biden must move with urgency to surpass previous commitments while catalyzing other leaders to do the same,” said Maxman. “Ahead of the COP26 in Glasgow, the US and other rich countries must deliver stronger commitments, including significant reductions in global emissions, and scaling up financial support to vulnerable countries that are not only the least responsible for the climate crisis, but also the least equipped to cope with it.”

As scientists warn of a race against time to limit temperature rises and adapt to an already changing climate, hard lessons must be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The world has witnessed the consequences of inaction in hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and millions pushed into precarity and hunger.

“World leaders must not ignore the lessons of the pandemic; they must put tackling the twin climate and inequality crises at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery,” concluded Maxman. “This is the time for bigger, bolder action that will deliver a more resilient and dignified future where everyone can thrive — not just survive.”

Notes to editors

The richest 10 percent accounted for over half (52 percent) of the emissions added to the atmosphere between 1990 and 2015. The richest one percent were responsible for 15 percent of emissions during this time – more than all the citizens of the EU and more than twice that of the poorest half of humanity (7 percent). Download Oxfam’s report, ‘Confronting Carbon Inequality,’ for more information.

The combined climate plans submitted by countries account to a dismal 1 percent emissions reduction, which is way off track from the targeted 45 percent reduction needed to limit global warming below 1.5 degrees, and to avoid disastrous impacts on vulnerable communities.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been invited to speak at the summit. The Climate Change Commission is currently finalising its draft advice that would plan to reduce New Zealand’s domestic emissions by 17.2% by 2030.

The government is also reviewing New Zealand’s Paris Agreement target for emissions reductions by 2030, our ‘Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)’, which the Commission found to currently be inconsistent with global efforts to stay within 1.5C of global heating.

Oxfam New Zealand’s 2020 report ‘A Fair 2030 Target for Aotearoa’ found that New Zealand’s fair share of effort for keeping to 1.5 degrees would be no less than an 80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030.

Media Contact

Jo Spratt | Communications and Advocacy Director | Wellington, New Zealand | Joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz | 0210664210

Please support Oxfam’s Coronavirus Response Appeal.

Aid organisations call on governments to give a single day’s military spending to fight hunger

World hunger

Only 26 hours of global military spending is enough to cover the $5.5 billion needed to help most at risk 

A year on since the UN warned of “famines of biblical proportions”, rich donors have funded just 5 percent of the UN’s $7.8bn food security appeal for 2021.

More than 200 NGOs published an open letter today calling upon all governments to urgently increase aid to stop over 34 million people, from being pushed to the brink of starvation this year.

The $5.5bn additional funding recently called for by the UN WFP and FAO is equivalent to less than 26 hours of the $1.9 trillion that countries spend each year on the military. Yet, as more and more people go to bed hungry, conflict is increasing.

At the end of 2020 the UN estimated that 270 million people were either at high risk of, or already facing, acute levels of hunger. Already 174 million people in 58 countries have reached that level and are at risk of dying from malnutrition or lack of food, and this figure is only likely to rise in coming months if nothing is done immediately.

Globally, average food prices are now the highest in seven years. 

Conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger, also exacerbated by climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.  From Yemen, to Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria, conflicts and violence are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.

Many in conflict zones have shared horrifying stories of hunger. Fayda from Lahj governorate in Yemen says: “When humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children – instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry. I thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.” 

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic the UN Secretary General called for a global ceasefire to address the pandemic but too few leaders have sought to implement it. Global leaders must support durable and sustainable solutions to conflict, and open pathways for humanitarians to access those in conflict zones to save lives.  

Amb. Ahmed Shehu, Regional Coordinator for the Civil Society Network of Lake Chad Basin said: “The situation here is really dire. Seventy percent of people in this region are farmers but they can’t access their land because of violence, so they can’t produce food. These farmers have been providing food for thousands for years – now they have become beggars themselves. Food production is lost, so jobs are lost, so income is lost, so people cannot buy the food. Then, we as aid workers cannot safely even get to people to help them. Some of our members risked the journey to reach starving communities and were abducted – we don’t know where they are. This has a huge impact on those of us desperate to help.”

/ENDS

Notes to the editors 

QUOTES FROM NGO SIGNATORIES:

David Miliband, CEO and President of the International Rescue Committee, said: 

“The worsening rate of global hunger is horrifying to witness. Every day we are seeing the human cost of hunger play out in the countries where we work. World leaders must act now to prevent unprecedented levels of suffering, through increased funding and diplomatic efforts to end conflict and improve humanitarian access.” 

Oxfam International Executive Director, Gabriela Bucher said: 

“The richest countries are slashing their food aid even as millions of people go hungry; this is an extraordinary political failure. They must urgently reverse these decisions. And we must confront the fundamental drivers of starvation – global hunger is not about lack of food, but a lack of equality.”  

CARE International Secretary General, Sofía Sprechmann Sineiro said: 

“Whether Yemen, Syria or the DRC, funding to respond to the hunger crisis is not materializing. Yet trillions are invested in rescue packages for corporates all over the world. Donors must step up. It is not a matter of affordability; it is a matter of political will. CARE’s evidence base tells us that for every dollar women earn, 80 cents go back into the family, compared with 30 cents of every dollar men earn. Gender inequality is a key predictor of the occurrence and recurrence of armed conflict. If we fail to grasp this simple fact, we will fail to prevent or effectively counter famine. 

Save the Children’s CEO, Inger Ashing said:  
“We have warned donors over and over again – their inaction is leading to death and despair among children, as we see in countries across the globe every single day. A pledging conference for Yemen in early March did not even raise half of the funds needed, and that country is at a tipping point. It’s painful, because governments have the money. That thousands of children will be dying of hunger and disease in 2021 is a political choice – unless governments radically choose to help save the lives of children.” 

The Danish Refugee Council Secretary General, Charlotte Slente said: 

“Among the growing number of refugees and displaced persons, lack of access to food severely worsens an already critical situation. DRC calls on all governments to act now to prevent global hunger from adding further destitution to the world’s most vulnerable groups of people.” 

World Vision International President & CEO, Andrew Morley said: 

“Let me be direct: there is no place or excuse for famine in the 21st century. The fact we have reached this point shows there has been a clear and catastrophic moral failure by the international community. A generation of girls and boys needs us to bring hope, supporting and empowering them to reach their full potential. Children of the world are looking to us to act.” 

Interim CEO of Islamic Relief Worldwide,Tufail Hussain, said:

“Cutting aid in the middle of a pandemic is morally abhorrent and risks rolling back decades of development. Failure to act now will cast a shadow over generations to come, as malnutrition affects young children’s cognitive and physical development for the rest of their lives. The world must not wait for famine to be declared before helping people who are starving right now. We are calling for global solidarity to end hunger and stand with the world’s poorest people.”

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, CEO of Plan International, said:

“We are witnessing a devastating global hunger crisis, which will hit girls and women the hardest. In countries like South Sudan, we are already hearing reports of hunger-related deaths and families going entire days without food. Others are making heartbreaking choices, marrying their daughters early or saving what little food they have for working members of the household. It is critical that world leaders step up and provide more funding for humanitarian assistance – otherwise, we risk millions of avoidable deaths.”

Media Contact:

Jo Spratt | Communications and Advocacy Director | Wellington, New Zealand | Joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz | 0210664210

Former heads of state and Nobel laureates call on President Biden to waive intellectual property rules for covid vaccines

Helen Clark

New Zealand’s Former Prime Minister of New Zealand,  and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme Helen Clark has signed.

More than 170 former heads of state and government and Nobel laureates, including former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown, former President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of France François Hollande and Nobel Laureates Professor Joseph Stiglitz and Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, today called on President Biden to support a waiver of intellectual property rules for COVID-19 vaccines and pursue a people’s vaccine to end the pandemic in an open letter today. A waiver of intellectual property rules would allow for a scale up in manufacturing in the U.S. and around the world, overcoming artificial supply constraints.

The former world leaders and Nobel Laureates encourage President Biden to take the urgent action only he can and “let this moment be remembered in history as the time we chose to put the collective right to safety for all ahead of the commercial monopolies of the few.”

The letter specifically asks President Biden to support a proposal from the South African and Indian governments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily waive intellectual property rules related to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. At the current pace of vaccine production, most poor nations will be left waiting until at least 2024 to achieve mass COVID-19 immunization.

Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said:

“President Biden has said that no one is safe until everyone is safe, and now with the G7 ahead there is an unparalleled opportunity to provide the leadership that only the U.S. can provide and that hastens an end to the pandemic for the world.”

“An urgent temporary waiver of intellectual property rules at the World Trade Organization would help us ramp up global supply of vaccines together with a global multi-year burden sharing plan to finance vaccines for the poorest countries”.

“This would be in the strategic interests of the U.S., and of every country on the planet”.

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Economics Prize Laureate, said:

“While the U.S. has made enormous progress in vaccinating its own population, thanks to the efforts of the Biden administration, that alone is unfortunately not enough”. “New mutations of the virus will continue to cost lives and upend our interconnected global

economy until everyone, everywhere has access to a safe and effective vaccine. Intellectual

property is the utmost artificial barrier to global vaccine supply. We as a nation must lead with our allies to back the South Africa and India waiver at the WTO, insist on technology transfer, and strategically invest in production”.

François Hollande, former President of France, said:

“The extreme inequality in access to vaccines around the world creates an unbearable political and moral situation. It is above all sanitary and economic nonsense as we are all concerned. That the Biden administration is considering waiving barriers related to intellectual property rules offers hope for the international community. If the United States supports the lifting of patents, Europe will have to take its responsibilities. In the face of this devastating pandemic, world leaders must prioritize the public interest and international solidarity”. Other signatories include Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former President of Brazil, and Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, together with over 60 other former heads of state and heads of government that span every continent.

The leaders also called for the intellectual property waiver to be accompanied by the open sharing of vaccine know-how and technology, and by coordinated and strategic global investment in research, development, and manufacturing capacity, especially in developing countries, underscoring that threats to public health are global and require global solidarity based solutions.

These actions would expand global manufacturing capacity, unhindered by industry monopolies that are driving the dire supply shortages blocking vaccine access. The resulting vaccine inequality, the leaders warned, means that the U.S. economy already risks losing $1.3 trillion in7 GDP this year, and if the virus is left to roam the world, the increased risk of new viral variants means even vaccinated people in the U.S. could be unprotected once more.

The letter, which was coordinated by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 organizations including Club de Madrid, Oxfam and UNAIDS, warned that at the current global immunization rate, it was likely that only 10 percent of people in the majority of poor countries will be vaccinated in the next year.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureate said:

“We will not end today’s global pandemic until rich countries – most especially the United States – stop blocking the ability of countries around the world to mass produce safe and effective vaccines”. “Global health is on the line. History is watching. I, with my fellow laureates and scientists across the globe, urge President Biden to do the right thing and to support the TRIPS waiver, insist on pharmaceutical corporations to share vaccine technologies with the world, and strategically invest in distributed production”.

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate said:

“Big pharmaceutical companies are setting the terms of the end of today’s pandemic – and the cost of allowing senseless monopolies is only more death and more people being pushed into poverty”. “Only government action – not philanthropy, and not the private sector – can solve today’s unprecedented crisis. We together urge President Biden to stand on the right side of history – and ensure a vaccine is a global common good, free of intellectual property protections”.

Notes to editors:

The full letter and list of signers can be found here.

The letter was coordinated by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 organizations including Club de Madrid, the Yunus Centre, Oxfam, Health GAP, UNAIDS, Physicians for Human Rights, the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, Global Justice Now and Avaaz.

Media Contact:

Jo Spratt | Communications and Advocacy Director | Wellington, New Zealand | Joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz | 0210664210

Slight increase in aid only a drop in the ocean to combat the Covid-19 crisis

Figures published today by the OECD show that development aid has slightly increased in 2020. While this rise provides a lifeline for millions of people living in poverty around the world, it’s simply not enough. With extreme poverty skyrocketing for the first time in over twenty years and increasing economic and gender inequality exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis, rich countries are facing and failing the biggest test the aid system has seen since its creation 50 years ago, said Oxfam. 

Reacting to the news, Oxfam’s global aid policy expert, Julie Seghers, said: 

“In 2020, rich countries spent 0.32 percent of their gross national income on aid, up from 0.30 percent in 2019. This increase is welcome, but is partly due to declining national incomes, and still fails to fulfil 50-year-old promises of 0.7 percent of GNI. If rich countries had kept their promise, aid budgets would have been boosted by an additional $190 billion in 2020 alone – more than enough for low- and lower-middle income countries to vaccinate their entire population and guarantee basic education for all. 

“Rich countries have taken exceptional measures to respond to the crisis domestically deploying trillions of dollars to fund their Covid-19 relief and recovery plans. The same urgency must guide their international response. This means ramping up aid budgets, reallocating their Special Drawing Rights and acting urgently on debt cancellation. 

“Rich countries are giving more and more ‘aid’ through loans. This paradoxical action is piling on even more debt at a time when poorer countries are struggling to keep afloat and seeing their own revenues drop dramatically. Now is the time for grants, not loans. Investing in hospitals and schools, and providing cash grants to help people weather this crisis-induced storm is needed, not the further shrinking of countries’ fiscal space. 

“Increasing aid is vital to provide Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments to developing countries, and to shore up their health systems and capacity to manufacture vaccines. But this is a drop in the ocean compared to needs and should under no circumstances replace international commitments to share patents. 

“We know there is a high chance of aid cuts to come next year due to the lagged impact of the recession. But this is a policy choice. Rich countries should instead choose to show international solidarity at a time when it’s most needed.” 

 

Notes to editors

Oxfam aid expert Julie Seghers is available for interviews in English and French. 

The 2020 aid figures are available on the OECD website. 

In a statement released today, 76 civil society organisations across the world, including Oxfam, called for increased levels of aid in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and related crises, and called on DAC members to fulfil and exceed the 0.7% aid target and the 0.15% to 0.2% target for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), prioritising unconditional grants and technical support. 

Slight increase in development aid 

OECD data shows that overall aid spending from 29 OECD donor countries totalled USD 161.2 billion in 2020. This was a 3.5 percent increase from 2019. 

Rich countries only committed 0.32 percent of their gross national income (GNI) to development aid. This is up from 0.30 percent in 2019, but still well below the 0.7 percent they promised to deliver in 1970.  

In 2020, just 6 countries – Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany and the UK – lived up to their 1970 promise of 0.7 percent. Germany reached the 0.7 percent club thanks to additional funding in response to Covid-19 and a decrease in GNI due to the crisis. The UK cut its aid but still reached 0.7 percent in 2020, although it will fall below the target in 2021 with the announcement of future cuts.  

Commitment to spend 0.7 percent of GNI in aid 

Rich countries first committed to increase their international aid to 0.7 percent of their Gross National Income (GNI) in a 1970 UN General Assembly Resolution, and have repeatedly re-endorsed this commitment since then, apart from the US and Switzerland. 

Oxfam has calculated that in the 50 years since the 0.7 percent promise was made, rich countries have failed to deliver a total of $5.7 trillion in aid. Essentially, this shortfall means that the world’s richest countries owe a $5.7 trillion debt to the world’s poorest people. In 2020 alone, if rich countries had reached the 0.7 percent target, the current aid budget of $161.2 billion would have been boosted by about $190 billion. 

Needs of low-income countries 

New IMF research shows that low-income countries will have to deploy some $200 billion over five years to fight the pandemic and an additional $250 billion to return to their original path of catching up to higher income levels. 

Oxfam’s recommendations to help low-income countries face and recover from the Covid-19 crisis Rich countries and international institutions need to take four actions:  

  • Cancel debt immediately  

  • Create Special Drawing Rights – new international reserves by the IMF)  

  • Adopt emergency solidarity taxes  

  • Undertake a massive injection of international aid — a powerful tool of global solidarity that has proven time and time again to save lives.  

This Oxfam report lays out a vision for aid in response to the crisis.  

Costs of vaccinating the entire population of low- and lower-middle income countries  

Oxfam estimated the cost of delivering a COVID-19 vaccine based on data from the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which states $18.1 billion is needed in 2020–21 for end-to-end production of two billion doses of vaccines globally. This includes research and development, manufacturing, procurement, distribution and delivery. This means that the amount needed for the production of one dose is $9.05, and $18.10 for two doses. 3,581,000,000 people live in low-income countries and lower-middle income countries, so the cost to vaccinate them with two doses each is $64,816,100,000. 

Cost of getting children and youth back to school in low-and lower-middle income countries 

According to the latest UNESCO estimates, 51.2 million children of primary school age and 51.9 million adolescents of lower secondary school age are out of school in low- and lower-middle income countries. Using UNESCO estimates of expenditure per student for one year of schooling in low and lower-middle income countries ($403 for primary school and $536 for lower secondary), we calculate that the cost of getting children and adolescents back to school and finishing primary and lower secondary education (i.e., ‘basic education’) is $48 billion. 

Projections on future aid trends 

ODA projections are uncertain, as ultimately, it’s a political decision to cut or increase aid budgets. However, the Overseas Development Institute anticipates that, if the relation between ODA/GDP growth evolves in the same way as it did between 2000-18, then ODA could fall by 9.5% between 2019 and 2021.

Media Contact:

Jo Spratt | Communications and Advocacy Director | Wellington, New Zealand | Joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz | 0210664210

Timor-Leste’s most destructive floods in recent memory likely worsened by climate change, as COVID-19 threat looms: Oxfam

Almost half of the population of Timor-Leste’s capital has been impacted by severe flooding, according to government figures, after heavy rains fell on Dili and nearby provinces last week. Cyclone Seroja took the people of Timor-Leste by surprise, with the small nation previously not within the range of such extreme weather events. Oxfam in Timor-Leste’s Associate Country Director, Annie Sloman, said the impact of climate change was undeniable.

“The combination of La Niña and climate change this year has resulted in extremely heavy rainfall, and more severe flooding than the Timorese are used to. Climate change is clearly exacerbating the intensity and impact of these disasters.”

At least 36 people were killed by the flooding and landslides caused by the rains, and 10 people remain missing. While thorough assessments are still being completed, the number of people impacted is expected to be more than 100,000, which is close to 10% of the country’s population.

“There’s been significant infrastructure damage, with a third of Dili’s water systems out. This means people don’t have access to safe drinking water, and the risk of water-borne diseases, like Dengue Fever and diarrhea, spreading is high.”

She said the growing risk of an outbreak of COVID-19 in one of the 36 evacuation centres was a major concern.

“A high proportion of those who fled to evacuation centres remain there, because people are struggling to fix and clean their homes to make them habitable.”

Ms Sloman said most of those people are women, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly.

“There are concerns about people following COVID-19 precautions: few are wearing masks, there is limited social distancing and there are challenges with accessing clean water for handwashing. The longer they stay there, the greater the risk of an outbreak among a highly vulnerable population.”

She said the impact of the emergency will be felt for a long time to come, due to the already high levels of poverty and limited access to support services.

“There is still water in some people’s homes. Not only have their possessions been ruined or damaged, but they have lost food, which was already in short supply due to COVID-19 lockdowns and supply chain problems, and people who are informal workers have lost their income.

“Timor-Leste is one of the hungriest and poorest countries in the world – people’s ability to withstand the shock and bounce back is very low. That’s why the Government is asking for support to respond.”

Historically, Oxfam New Zealand has supported Timorese farmers to prepare for and deal with the impacts of climate change on their livelihoods, and currently Oxfam supports Timorese organisations as they work to protect the rights of women, those with disabilities and the rural poor, and bolster their ability to cope with climate breakdown.

In response to these destructive floods, Oxfam is working alongside local partners and the Timorese Government to assess the full impact of the floods, as well as to distribute much-needed items to those most in need in evacuation centres, such as tarpaulins, mattresses, blankets and sanitary products. Oxfam will also distribute items such as kitchen kits and food to support people to move back into their homes.

Media Contact:

Jo Spratt | Communications and Advocacy Director | Wellington, New Zealand | Joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz | 0210664210

Timor-Leste Emergency appeal

Your support is urgently needed for our neighbours in Timor-Leste. You can empower families in Timor-Leste to rebuild their lives after these devastating floods. Your donation can help to provide access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene at Evacuation Centres as well as improve access for people with disabilities to critical services. Your support today will ensure that this urgent life-saving work can happen.

Donate now

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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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