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Cumbria Times
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12:12 AM 8th December 2021
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Opinion

Vaccine Anniversary: UK Has Delivered Just 20% Of “Meagre" Dose Donation Target

 
One year on from the administration of the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine in the UK, campaigners have condemned the British government for obstructing efforts to vaccinate the world, contributing to the conditions that allowed the Omicron variant to emerge.

The UK has donated just 20 million of the 100 million doses promised to low and middle-income countries, equivalent to 20%. The doses donated so far have come from Covax, a scheme that has primarily served to distribute doses to low-income countries after rich nations like the UK cut bilateral deals to secure doses from pharmaceutical companies.

“The Omicron variant must be a wake-up call for the Prime Minister.

Campaigners say the target was already “meagre” and the UK has compounded problems by preventing poorer countries from manufacturing vaccines themselves.

For more than a year, the UK has blocked an international effort to temporarily waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, to allow wider manufacturing and more equitable access to medical technologies.

A waiver is supported by the WHO and the governments of most countries, including the United States, but the UK and EU, driven by Germany, have blocked the measure from progressing at the World Trade Organisation.

Tim Bierley, pharma campaigner at Global Justice Now, said:
“It’s hard to believe now, but this time last year there was some hope that the vaccine breakthrough would spur a cooperative and internationalist response to this crisis. But, one year on, the British government has obstructed efforts to vaccinate the world, ultimately prolonging the pandemic.

“A paltry 20% of the UK’s meagre target to donate 100 million doses has been delivered, as ministers stockpile ever-more doses for booster programmes. And the UK has prevented low and middle-income countries from making these vaccines themselves, spending the past year blocking an emergency suspension of intellectual property rules on the jabs.

“The Omicron variant must be a wake-up call for the Prime Minister. To avoid another year of lockdowns, hospitalisations, and countless preventable deaths, Johnson must finally support an intellectual property waiver on Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments.”