Boris Johnson's comments on the vaccine rollout couldn't be further from the truth

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Hi John,
"The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed, my friends."

These were Boris Johnson’s leaked remarks to Conservative MPs which made headlines this week. But they couldn’t be further from the truth.

Publicly-funded science is why we have vaccines. Volunteers are how we’ve proved they’re safe. And the NHS is how we’ve rolled them out.

Big pharma corporations have played their part – but greed is why they’re refusing to suspend their patents, leaving vaccine factories lying idle around the world and billions of people facing years without a vaccine as a result.

We need to restrain greed, not celebrate it, if we’re going to truly tackle this global pandemic – and so many other challenges. Can you join our urgent call to demand vaccines for all?
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Putting big pharma in the driving seat in this pandemic has led to a situation of vaccine apartheid.

While rich countries are vaccinating people at a rate of one every second, most countries in the global south had vaccinated no one at all by the start of March. This week the head of the World Health Organization said this inequality was becoming “more grotesque every day”.

The first doses via Covax, the WHO’s scheme to distribute at least some vaccines to every country, have recently started to arrive in countries like Ghana. But they are a long way short of what’s needed. As it stands, the world is prioritising the richest, not those most in need.

But we can change this.

Next month the WTO will meet again to discuss South Africa and India’s proposal to suspend patents for the duration of the pandemic. And in June, the UK will host the G7 meeting of powerful countries in Cornwall. Both meetings are a chance to build the pressure for the world to choose a different path.

More and more voices are speaking out in support of a people’s vaccine, not a profit vaccine – from public figures, to people like you and me signing petitions and showing our support on social media. Can you take the first step by adding your name to the petition today?
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Thank you,
Jonathan Stevenson
Campaigner, Global Justice Now

Read more

1. Boris Johnson faces barrage of criticism for claiming ‘greed’ is behind Covid vaccine success, 24 March 2021, [link removed]

2. Nick Dearden: Greed is the problem, not the solution, for vaccine woes, Al Jazeera, 24 March 2021, [link removed]

3. Most of the world's poorest countries haven't administered a single COVID-19 vaccine dose, 14 March 2021, [link removed]

4. Global COVID vaccine inequality 'becoming more grotesque every day,' WHO warns, Euronews, 22 March 2021, [link removed]

5. Countries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how, AP, 1 March 2021, [link removed]

6. Nanjala Nyabola: Vaccine Nationalism Is Patently Unjust, The Nation, 22 March 2021, [link removed]
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It’s vitally important that Covid-19 vaccine patents are suspended during the pandemic, and for big pharma to share their know-how globally, as the best way of ensuring there are enough vaccines for everyone everywhere.

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