Oxfam reaction to the announcement that the G7 will send surplus vaccines to developing countries

Responding to the G7’s limited progress on ensuring poor countries have access to COVID-19 vaccines, Max Lawson, Oxfam Head of Inequality Policy, said:
 
“While some of those attending the G7 have made welcome steps to increase the supply of vaccines to poor countries, these remain insufficient when compared to the scale of the COVID-19 threat.
 
“Making huge parts of Africa and Asia wait for unwanted, leftover vaccines from rich countries’ stocks is not just immoral, it is irresponsible. And the lack of coordinated action from the G7 is inexcusable. The longer huge swathes of the world’s population are denied protection, the greater the threat that virus mutations will threaten us all.
 
“Poor countries should not be forced to wait for vaccines to trickle down to them. Between them, G7 nations have secured enough vaccines for every one of their citizens to be vaccinated three times over, while many poor countries are yet to receive a single dose.  
 
“Instead of patting themselves on the back for limited progress, the best thing the G7 could do would be to stop supporting their pharmaceutical corporations monopolies on COVID-19 vaccines. Breaking up the monopolies of the big pharmaceutical companies is the quickest, fairest and most effective way of boosting vaccine production so that countries are not forced to compete to secure doses. The G7 and other rich nations should stop blocking the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights for all COVID-19 vaccines being proposed at the World Trade Organisation by South Africa, India and over 100 developing nations.’
 
“The G7 urgently needs to get its priorities straight during this unprecedented pandemic and stop putting the profits of big pharma ahead of a people’s vaccine.”