‘Declare COVID-19 Vaccine a Global Common Good’

Some 105 world figures, including 18 Nobel laureates, have signed a call by the Yunus Centre to declare COVID-19 Vaccines a global common good.

About 32 former heads of state and community, political leaders, artists, foreign Organizations and institutions are among the signatories.

Muhammad Yunus, Desmond Tutu, Mikhail Gorbachev, Malala Yousafzai, Bono, Richard Branson, Lech Walesa, Jody Williams, Mahathir Mohamad, Lula, George Clooney, Sharon Stone, Forest Whitaker, Leymah Gbowee, Mary Robinson, Tawakkol Karman, Ratan Tata, Azim Premji, Shabana Azmi, Anne Hidalgo, Thomas Bach, Andrea Bocelli and other world leaders made the appeal to declare Corona vaccine a global common good, said the Yunus Centre on Sunday.

The unified appeal calls on governments, foundations, philanthropists and social enterprises to come forward to produce and/or distribute vaccines free of charge throughout the world.

"We invite all social, political, and health entities to re-affirm our collective responsibility for the protection of ALL vulnerable persons without any discrimination whatsoever," the message reads.

He added that the COVID-19 pandemic directly demonstrates the successes and shortcomings in healthcare services in all countries and illustrates the gaps and inequities of access to healthcare.

The success of the forthcoming vaccine program will depend on its universality, the signatories  said.

The signatories have called for all world leaders, including the Secretary-General of the United States, the Director-General of the International Health Organisation, political figures, civil and moral representatives, figures of medical laboratories and pharmaceutical industries and the media, to join together to ensure that, in the case of the Covid-19 vaccine, we have a broad agreement that it must be implemented as a global common good .

Source: UNB