Second round of PPPR hearings

OXFAM AND THE PEOPLE’S VACCINE ALLIANCE SECOND STATEMENT ON A NEW INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENT ON PANDEMIC PREVENTION, PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

Sent: 29 September 2022

The second round of public hearings
29/30 September 2022

“Based on your experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, what do you believe should be addressed at the international level to better protect against future pandemics?”

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been riddled with inequalities in access to life-saving tests, vaccines and treatments.

This inequality kills. It impoverishes and causes economic ruin. Inequality prolongs the pandemic and all its harmful impacts, for all of us.

Charity did not and cannot fix the structural and deadly inequality we have been witness to during the COVID-19 pandemic. A pandemic treaty must.

One crucial way the pandemic treaty can achieve equal access is to ensure that developing countries have the rights and capacity to develop and produce these lifesaving products.

Amongst other measures the treaty must:

  • provide mechanisms for joint financing for R&D and development of countermeasures, ensuring that the resulting products are global public goods.
  • commit governments to increase funding for R&D.
  • make all funding of R&D and purchase conditional on full transparency of R&D costs and the sharing of intellectual property rights and know-how, as well as technology transfer, especially with producers in developing countries. This must be delivered via WHO-led IP and technology pooling mechanisms.
  • mandate governments to fund regional manufacturing capacity in the global south, which secures supplies for developing countries.

The deadly and immoral inequalities in access during COVID-19 must never be repeated. Upholding the rights and building the capacity of developing countries are necessary steps toward this.

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