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May 05, 2021 Seven out of ten citizens in G7 countries are calling for governments to move towards pharmaceutical giants to renounce their intellectual property rights on Covid vaccines, making their formulation and technology public to enable development and production in other countries.



The survey

It is the result of the survey published by the People's Vaccine Alliance, of which Oxfam and Emergency are members, on the occasion of the G7 Foreign and Development scheduled in London and the meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO). G7 in virtual form for the pandemic.



The percentages

70% of the public opinion of the G7 countries believes that pharmaceutical companies - fairly rewarded for development and production - should give up vaccine patents. They are 82% of Italian citizens, followed by Canada with 76%, United Kingdom 74%, Germany 70%, USA 69%, France 63% and Japan 58%.



India and South Africa unheard

More than 100 countries, led by India and South Africa, have made a request to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to suspend the intellectual property rights held by pharmaceutical companies on Covid-19 therapies, diagnostic tests and vaccines, throughout the duration of the pandemic. However, a proposal that met with opposition from the United States - despite Biden's latest statements - United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and the European Union, to the point that India and South Africa have decided to work on a revision of the suspension request to be submitted. to the WTO.



88 billion in public funding to Big Pharma

No company that produces a vaccine approved by regulatory authorities has joined the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), an initiative launched by the World Health Organization to facilitate the sharing of vaccine formulations, knowledge and data globally. This appears all the more unacceptable - Oxfam and Emergency underline - if we take into account that Moderna, Pfizer / BioNtech, Johnson & Johnson, Novovax and Oxford / AstraZeneca have received billions of public funding and guaranteed pre-orders. Globally, vaccine research and development is estimated to have been funded by the public sector with approximately $ 88 billion, with Oxford / AstraZeneca existing thanks to a 97% government grant. 



Nobody salted himself

“By simply vaccinating their own population, the G7 countries will not be safe. Just look at India or follow the opinion of the 77 epidemiologists interviewed by the PVA, - said Sara Albiani, Oxfam Italia's global health policy advisor and Rossella Miccio, President of Emergency - according to which the development of new variants risks making the current vaccines will be ineffective within the next year, if we do not seriously think about immunization in poor countries ”.



Change of course by 150 religious leaders

A decisive inversion also shared by 150 religious leaders from around the world - including Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Vatican dicastery for Integral Human Development, Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury, Thabo Makgoba, Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and the Franciscans of Assisi - who are asking the leaders of the G7 to effectively make the anti-Covid vaccine a "global common good". 



Italy's role and appeal

As a member of the G7 and current president of the G20, Italy can make a real difference. How? Leading the international community towards courageous and responsible paths that put public health and the protection of collective health interests at the center