Geneva
Prime Minister Imran Khan joined the ranks of 140 world leaders, past and present, who insisted on Thursday that any eventual Covid-19 vaccines and treatments should be made available to everyone, free of charge.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and former Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz were among the signatories of a letter to the World Health Assembly (WHA), saying any vaccine should not be patented, while the science should be shared between nations.
The WHA is the policy-setting body of the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO), which will hold its annual general meeting next week. The letter comes amid fury in France after pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said it would reserve first shipments of any Covid-19 vaccine for the United States.
The signatories called on the WHA to rally behind the global cause. It said that it was not the time to leave the task of resolving the pandemic to market forces or let the interests of wealthy companies and governments come before the need to save lives.
“Governments and international partners must unite around a global guarantee which ensures that, when a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it is produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge,” it said. “The same applies for all treatments, diagnostics, and other technologies for Covid-19.”
The letter is also signed by Senegalese President Macky Sall and Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. Former presidents and prime ministers include Jan Peter Balkenende, Jose Manuel Barroso, Gordon Brown, Helen Clark, Felipe Gonzalez, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Aleksander Kwasniewski, Mary McAleese, Olusegun Obasanjo and Juan Manuel Santos.—AFP
