The summit that was supposed to vaccinate the world

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Hi John,
The G7 was a colossal failure, but we still have every reason to be hopeful about a people’s vaccine

Boris Johnson went into this weekend’s G7 summit promising to “vaccinate the world”. But by Sunday night it was clear that even the much anticipated – if completely insufficient – pledge to donate 1 billion doses by the middle of next year wouldn’t be met. Neither was there any radical announcement on climate change or on cancelling Southern debt.

In the words of former British prime minister Gordon Brown, the summit will “go down as an unforgivable moral failure.”

The WHO calculates that 11 billion doses are needed to vaccinate the world from Covid-19. But by the end of the G7, only 600 million truly new doses had been promised – some of which will need to be paid for by clawing back financial aid. A single factory in Bangladesh has said it could produce between 600 and 800 million doses a year if we simply lifted Big Pharma’s patents and shared the know-how behind these vaccines.

That's the solution being demanded by over 100 countries, including the United States and now France. But a handful of leaders including Boris Johnson are standing in the way – putting Big Pharma’s monopolies ahead of saving lives around the world.

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The summit's failure was not limited to vaccines. On climate, the G7 merely restated the decade-old, inadequate climate pledges it has made before, leaving a vast gulf between what is required to be agreed at COP26 and where we’re headed.

And on debt, the G7 once again kicked the issue into the long grass even though many countries have been trapped in a debtor’s prison by the pandemic, and this debt crisis could fuel poverty and inequality for a generation.

We don’t want more rhetoric or inadequate charity. We want justice. Justice for the countries without vaccines because of Big Pharma monopolies. Justice for the people on the frontline of a climate crisis they did not cause. And justice for the nations burdened with debts which are stifling their ability to protect their citizens' healthcare and livelihoods.


**
Making our voices heard
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Despite the disappointing outcome, the summit was a festival of creative protest, with multiple actions and stunts taking place in Cornwall and across the country in recent days. We played our part, from a cliffside projection to a dancing flashmob and mock ‘rich-only’ vaccination centre in Falmouth…

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A big thank you to everyone who took part.


** The problem with the G7
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This weekend’s summit proves yet again that the G7 is part of the problem, not part of the solution, to the huge challenges we face.

As I set out in my latest article for New Internationalist ([link removed]) last week, the G7 was set up to preserve the inequality between the richest nations and newly decolonised countries in the 1970s. It was a coup against a fairer and more democratic form of international governance. While at times it has delivered impressive-sounding funds for global problems, it is incapable of creating a more equal world.

The good news is that the demand for change is growing, and those G7 leaders holding out against a people’s vaccine are now in a minority. Opinion polls show that the majority of the public are also with us. In just a few months, it’s become one of the biggest campaigns I’ve ever been involved in.

In the coming weeks, debates move to the WTO where we will support those countries pushing to override Big Pharma’s monopolies. And we will keep building momentum for the biggest possible movement for climate justice ahead of this crunch COP26 this November.

As part of that, we can all use the summer months to get active in our local areas (as much as restrictions allow), to help build the movement for justice. You can order your People’s Vaccine action pack ([link removed]) or get involved in COP26 local assemblies ([link removed]) this month.

In hope,
Nick Dearden
Director, Global Justice Now
** Help ensure Covid-19 vaccines are available to everyone, everywhere
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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.

Regular gifts give us the long-term stability to plan effective campaigns and the flexibility to respond to crises like these.

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