Media Releases

Reaction to AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial announcement

November 24, 2020

In response to the announcement today on the results of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial, Oxfam’s Health policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said:

“This is another breakthrough and while the results from the AstraZeneca/Oxford trial are slightly less promising than those from Pfizer and Moderna, they have pledged to do far more to make sure the vaccine reaches people in poorer countries.

“No one company is equipped to produce enough doses to meet the unprecedented global demand on their own. All pharmaceutical companies should work together for a people’s vaccine by urgently transferring their technology and know-how, in order for everyone in the world to have access to a safe and effective vaccine.

“Only then will we see an end to this horrendous pandemic which has taken over a million lives and caused massive hardship for millions more.”

Oxfam is concerned that neither governments nor the pharmaceutical industry are taking the necessary steps now to ensure that there is maximum supply of a new vaccine to meet with the global need.

Notes to editors:

A recent paper from Oxfam America comparing the five leading vaccine contenders found AstraZeneca/Oxford’s vaccine to be most accessible – available at the lowest pandemic price and with the fairest distribution to low and middle-income countries. In comparison to the Pfizer & Moderna vaccines – where the majority of allocated doses have been bought by rich countries – Lower & Middle Income Countries would make up 74 percent of AstraZeneca/Oxford’s allocated doses. https://assets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/A_Shot_at_Recovery.pdf

Oxfam is part of The Peoples’ Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of over 20 global and national organizations and activists united under a common aim of campaigning for a ‘people’s vaccine. The call for a People’s Vaccine is backed by past and present world leaders, health experts, faith leaders and economists. For more information visit: https://peoplesvaccine.org

Media enquires:

Contact: Kelsey-Rae Taylor
Email: Kelsey-Rae.Taylor@oxfam.org.nz
Phone: +64 21 298 9854

G20 arms exports to Saudi Arabia worth three times aid to Yemen since 2015 – Oxfam

November 18, 2020

Other members of the G20 have exported more than US$17bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since it became involved in the conflict in Yemen in 2015 but have given only a third of that amount in aid to people caught in the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, Oxfam said today.

The G20 heads of state are due to meet virtually later this week at a summit hosted by Saudi Arabia. Arms sales to the Gulf nation could come under fresh scrutiny as the US president-elect, Joe Biden, is on the record as saying he would stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia that fuel the war in Yemen.

After five years of conflict, Yemen was already suffering the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis with 10 million people going hungry, the largest cholera outbreak on record and only half of hospitals fully functioning. Oxfam reported in August that there has been one air raid every ten days on hospitals, clinics, wells and water tanks throughout the war.

The arrival of coronavirus has only worsened these dire circumstances. And yet the United Nations’ response plan to get clean water, food and medical care to the most vulnerable, is only 44% funded this year.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to lead a coalition of eight countries in support of the internationally recognised government in Yemen escalated the conflict and has been responsible for all air raids over more than five years. When arms exports by G20 nations to other members of this coalition are included, the figure of $17bn rises to at least US$31.4bn between 2015 and 2019, the last year for which records are available. That’s more than five times the amount those member nations of the G20 have given in aid to Yemen between 2015 and 2020. In addition, Saudi Arabia has given $3.8bn in aid.

Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director said: “Having suffered years of death, displacement and disease, the people of Yemen need these powerful members of the international community to bring all parties to the conflict together to agree to an immediate countrywide ceasefire and return to negotiations committed to achieving a lasting peace.

“Making billions from arms exports which fuel the conflict while providing a small fraction of that in aid to Yemen is both immoral and incoherent. The world’s wealthiest nations cannot continue to put profits above the Yemeni people.”

Despite a unilateral ceasefire declaration by the Saudi coalition in April, fighting continues across the country. The governorates of Marib and Al-Jawf in the north of the country are the worst-hit by airstrikes while the governorate of Taiz in central Yemen is seeing the worst ground fighting. There’s been a recent upsurge in fighting in the key port city of Hudaydah, the most important point of entry for the food, fuel and medicines needed for 20 million Yemenis in the northern governorates to prevent famine and a recurrence of a cholera epidemic.

Some G20 nations, including the US and UK, give a small fraction in aid compared to the worth of exports by their domestic arms companies to Saudi Arabia. Some, like Japan, have given aid to Yemen but have not exported arms to Saudi Arabia in the last five years. Other countries, like Argentina, have neither given aid nor exported arms to Saudi.

Ibtisam Sageer Al Razehi, a 35-year-old former teacher and mother of three, lives with her children in the remains of the family house in Sa’ada city which was damaged by missiles and artillery fire. Her husband was killed by an airstrike in 2015.

“I lost my husband, my children lost their father, we lost the breadwinner and because of war I also lost my salary as our last hope for living,” she said.

“Humanitarian aid has decreased a lot; now we receive food every two months instead of every month. I appeal to the world to have mercy on the children of Yemen and stop this war. We are very tired of living in war for years, we lost everything beautiful in our lives, even the simple hope of peace.’’

Notes to Editors

Data on the worth of arms exports to Saudi Arabia and other coalition countries has been taken from SIPRI’s Arms Transfers Database. It includes exports between 2015 and 2019 inclusive.

Data on the amount of aid donated to Yemen comes from the UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service

Contact Information:

Kelsey-Rae Taylor | Kelsey-Rae.Taylor@oxfam.org.nz | +64 21 298 9854

Moderna can be a genuine game-changer – if it shares COVID-19 vaccine

November 17, 2020

In response to the announcement today from the National Institutes of Health that early data shows Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective, Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, said:

“Moderna’s discovery could be a real game-changer in the fight against COVID-19. However, on its own, Moderna can only produce enough vaccine for less than seven percent of the global population by the end of 2021, almost all of whom will be in rich countries.

“The vaccine will remain the private property of the corporation, despite being largely publicly funded. While Moderna has pledged not to enforce intellectual property rights on its vaccine, it needs to go that critical step further by pooling and sharing its technology with the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, for the benefit of the rest of the world.

“In addition to the devastating loss of life, COVID-19 has put a massive strain on health systems, created a global economic crisis and pushed millions more people into poverty. We call on Moderna and all the companies working on potential vaccines to commit to a Peoples Vaccine which is available free for all people in all countries.

“We cannot put the profits of pharmaceutical companies ahead of ending the pandemic and recovering the global economy. Millions of lives and livelihoods are at stake.”

Note to editors:

Oxfam is part of The Peoples’ Vaccine campaign, which is calling for Pfizer, Moderna and all vaccine developers to openly share their intellectual property, technology and knowhow to enable the mass production of successful vaccine all over the world.

The call for a People’s Vaccine is backed by past and present world leaders, health experts, faith leaders and economists.

The proposed 1 billion doses translates to reaching just shy of 7 percent of the global population by end of 2021 (based on each person requiring 2 doses).

Contact Information:

Kelsey-Rae Taylor | Kelsey-Rae.Taylor@oxfam.org.nz | +64 21 298 9854

Oxfam reaction to G20 announcement to tackle the debt crisis facing many developing countries

November 16, 2020

Oxfam welcomes the G20 Finance Ministers’ discussions over the past few days around a new ‘common framework’ to tackle the debt crisis facing many developing countries. But this is no breakthrough – far from it. The G20 is lacking any sense of real urgency and – even worse – after waiting decades for a proper platform to tackle this problem, low and middle-income countries remain outside the room where discussions are happening and standards are being set. Only China, India, Turkey and the G20 members have been added to the old Paris Club of privileged rich countries. The power placed in the hands of the IMF as a gatekeeper for any agreement seems excessive.

Poor and increasingly even middle-income countries are under massive debt pressure right now. In the past few hours Zambia alone has been reported as being on the brink of defaulting on its $12 billion foreign debt. Without debt cancellation now, we could see developing countries falling into default like dominoes. Already many of them cannot afford their doctors and nurses. The chances of them recovering quickly from the coronavirus pandemic is precarious already. The G20 governments must stand up for people especially in poorer countries and announce preventative suspensions and cancellations, rather than forcing poor countries to “self-select” as to their distress. There can be no more excuses for not insisting that private creditors are part of binding mechanism for securing debt relief agreement.”

Over 1,000 health professionals call for G20 to cancel developing countries’ debt

November 12, 2020

Over 1,000 health professionals from 66 countries have signed a letter urging the G20 to cancel the debt of developing countries, ahead of tomorrow’s extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers meeting.

The letter, organized by Oxfam, urges the G20 to cancel the debt so that countries can devote funds to responding to COVID-19 and invest in more resilient healthcare systems. Many governments are spending more on repaying debt than on health and the current G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) only postpones a fraction of debt payments —including interest— until mid-2021.

Signatories to the letter include Dr Nisreen Alwan, Associate Professor for Public Health in Medicine at the University of Southampton in the UK, Dr Stefano Vella, Director of the National Centre for Global Health in Italy, Dr Christophe Prudhomme, Emergency Physician at Samu 93 Hospital and spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Physicians of France, Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford in the UK, and Dr Francis Mupeta, Head of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the University Teaching Hospital in Zambia.

Chema Vera, Oxfam International’s Interim Executive Director, said:

“At a time when hospitals and healthcare systems are buckling under the strain of COVID-19, it is perverse that poor countries are having to pay $3 billion per month in debt repayments to rich banks, investment funds or the World Bank, while their populations fall further into poverty and destitution.

“The suspension initiative barely scratches the surface of what is needed. Private creditors are not included and continue to collect debt payments from the poorest countries. Intensive care units need equipping, doctors and nurses hiring —debt needs to be cancelled, postponing it is futile.”

Even before COVID-19 hit, there was a shortage of 17.4 million health workers worldwide, mostly in low- and lower-middle income countries. Oxfam analysis has shown that debt cancellation for this year alone could provide three years’ worth of salaries for:

The 14,000 extra nurses needed in Malawi, currently with only a quarter of the nurses it requires.
The 24,500 extra doctors needed in Ghana, currently with less than one fifth of the doctors it requires.
The 47,468 extra nurses needed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, currently with less than half the number of nurses it requires.

There is currently no global common agreement for countries struggling with debt repayments, with countries left to fend for themselves individually against their creditors. At the G20 Finance Ministers meeting tomorrow, a common framework for debt restructuring will be discussed, but Oxfam says that this will be meaningless unless it is binding and includes all bilateral, multilateral and private creditors on equal terms.

“We urge the G20 to go further and provide permanent debt relief, not continue with this temporary fix that does little but delay the problem. This unprecedented global health emergency demands an unprecedented, radical response from the world’s richest countries to truly support the world’s poorest people,” added Vera.

Notes to editors

The letter, also supported by over 19,000 people, can be found here.

In October, G20 Finance Ministers agreed to extend the Debt Service Suspension Initiative from the end of 2020 to June 2021, with a planned review in April for a possible extension until the end of 2021.

A shortage of 17.4 million health workers worldwide, mostly in low- and lower-middle income countries is from the World Health Organization Primary Health Care on the Road to Universal Health Coverage: 2019 Monitoring Report.

The methodology for the debt cancellation statistics is available on request.

Contact information

Kelsey-Rae Taylor | Kelsey-Rae.Taylor@oxfam.org.nz | +64 21 298 9854

Please support Oxfam’s Coronavirus Response Appeal.

Pfizer’s estimated price for the Covid-19 vaccine is too high

November 10, 2020

OXFAM RESPONSE TO PFIZER INTERIM REPORT

In response to Pfizer and BioNTech’s encouraging interim report about the effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccine, Niko Lusiani, Senior Advisor with Oxfam America, made the following statement:

‘Pfizer and BioNTech’s encouraging results bring us all hope that we can get out of our current pandemic nightmare, but that simply won’t happen unless the vaccine is available and affordable to everyone.

“Pfizer’s estimated price for the vaccine is too high and the company cannot produce enough. The vaccine will be 0% effective to the people who can’t access or afford it.

“Pfizer’s price in the US is the highest among the leading vaccine candidates, with some analysts suggesting a 60-80% profit margin. Neither Pfizer, nor its German partner BioNTech, has made a public commitment to sharing its COVID-19 vaccine knowledge, technology, intellectual property, data and know-how to boost supply, reduce price and enhance equity.

“Meanwhile, rich countries are hoarding more than half of the vaccines developed by the companies with the leading five vaccine candidates. The US, with only 4% of the world’s population, has already called dibs on almost 50% of the Pfizer’s total expected supply in 2021.

“To protect everyone no matter their wealth or nationality, Pfizer and BioNTech must commit to openly sharing their vaccine technology to enabling billions of doses to be made now at the lowest possible price.

“In a global pandemic of this magnitude, we must pursue a new path—a people’s vaccine that prioritizes public health over private profits. No one should have access to a life-saving vaccine only if they live in the right country or have enough money. Governments and corporations must work together to make all COVID-19 treatments and vaccines global public goods.”

Editor’s notes:

While Pfizer is not relying on government funding for research and development for its COVID-19 vaccine, its partner BioNTech—the owner of the intellectual property for BNT-162—received a $439 million (€375m) grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research to support scale-up of manufacturing and development process.

Pfizer and BioNTech have not yet committed to disclosing the terms and conditions of any contracts for development or procurement with public entities, nor to being transparent about the true cost of R&D and manufacturing of its vaccine candidate.

In the US, the companies have priced the vaccine at $19.50 per a dose, or approximately $40 per two-dose regimen, for its 100 million dose order.

If the deals with rich countries materialize, only 23 million doses (2% of total supply) would be available at present to Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Meanwhile, 36% (470 million doses) of Pfizer/BioNTech’s 1.3 billion dose capacity (36%) would be guaranteed for rich countries. If the US government and the EU both agree to exercise their 500 million and 100 million dose respective options, a full 1.07 billion of the 1.3 billion dose (82%) would be captured by a handful of rich countries, with the US (only 4% of the world’s population) by itself cornering 46% of total supply of this vaccine in 2021.

Pfizer’s CEO banked almost $18 billion last year, while stockholders received more than four billion dollars in dividends in the first two quarters. Since January, the company spent more than 6 million dollars lobbying the US Federal government.

Additional information is available in Oxfam’s “A Shot at Recovery” that looks at the commitments made by the leading COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers — AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Merck and Co., and Pfizer — on key areas of vaccine access and equity.