While many of us are obsessed with the side effects of certain Covid-19 vaccines and feel hesitant to get vaccinated, the Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has recently launched the "VOW -- Vaccinate Our World" campaign to fight for vaccine access for all.
The digital campaign is aimed at world leaders to ensure vaccine equity worldwide.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has seen over 150 million cases and more than 3.3 million deaths. This has consequently caused social and economic crises around the world and it's believed that the only way to stop it is to provide vaccinations globally as fast as possible.
However, according to the data, almost 90% of the more than 700 million vaccines administered so far have happened in high-income or upper-middle-income countries, while low-income countries received have received only 0.2%. As a result, the AHF has come out to urge the world to unite and vow to "vaccinate our world".
The campaign is calling for wealthy countries, the G20 in particular, and global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to support struggling countries.
Most importantly, it demands that all Covid-19 vaccine patents be waived or suspended for global good and worldwide vaccine production capacity be boosted to ensure equitable access for 7.5 billion people worldwide, rich or poor.
The issue was stressed in the article "Share The Intellectual Property On Covid-19", by Jeffrey D Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Published on the prestigious Project Syndicate website late last month, it says: "Intellectual property must serve the global good, rather than humanity serving the interests of a few private companies. And in the case of Covid-19, the global good is not in doubt. Rapid worldwide immunisation is needed in order to save lives, prevent the emergence of new variants, and end the pandemic."
The "VOW" campaign was introduced in Bangkok last week and will make its way at news events organised in prominent metropolitan cities around the world.
Everyone is invited to voice their support to the movement via vaccinateourworld.org. They are also encouraged to spread the word and encourage others to contribute by tweeting and posting these messages on social media, "If the immorality of vaccine rationing doesn't bother you, the grave danger that it poses to the world should", with the hashtags #VaccinateOurWorld #VOWnow #AHFThailand.
The digital advocacy campaign is aimed to urge world leaders to ensure vaccine equity worldwide.
To learn more about the campaign, visit vaccinateourworld.org.
