Africa's call to world leaders for COVID-19 vaccine equity
Influential voices across Africa come together to demand equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines
Many countries in Africa have recently experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases and remain at high risk of further surges. But measures to contain the virus threaten fragile economic growth, and the stability of basic services such as health and education.
On 22 September, world leaders promised to reach 40% of the world’s population with vaccines by end of 2021.
Let’s hold them accountable.
Read our letter to G20 leaders for vaccine equity
Dear G20 Leaders,
At the COVID-19 Summit held at the United Nations last week, world leaders set a target that every country should vaccinate 70 per cent of its population. Many rich countries are on track, yet only a fraction of Africans are fully vaccinated.
This inequity is unjust – and self-defeating. It leaves Africans – and the whole world – at the mercy of the virus. Unchecked, it can create new and more dangerous variants.
Rich nations have pledged to donate over a billion vaccines this year and hundreds of millions more in 2022. This gives us hope. But Africa cannot wait. We need doses now.
We call on you to donate doses by December, along with resources to turn vaccines into vaccinations – to train healthcare workers, equip them with personal protection, and the infrastructure to store and transport vaccines.
The stakes could not be higher. Every day Africa remains unprotected, pressure builds on fragile health systems where there can be one midwife for hundreds of mothers and babies. As the pandemic causes a spike in child malnutrition, resources are diverted from life-saving health services and childhood immunization. Children already orphaned risk losing grandparents. Disaster looms for Sub-Saharan African families, four out of five of whom rely on the informal sector for their daily bread. Poverty threatens children’s return to school, protection from violence and child marriage.
Every day we wait risks a tragic reversal of hard-won development gains.
Remember the relief you felt when you got your first dose, when you could hug your elders, see life get back on track for your children. Africa needs this too.
The path out of the pandemic is clear. But we can only get out together. Please donate doses by December.