COVID-19: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle sign open letter calling out vaccine inequity

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Hollywood actor Charlize ron and former UK PM Gordon Brown are among 130 signatories to a letter lambasting wealthy countries’ approach to COVID-19 pandemic. In strongly-worded open letter published on Friday, signatories labelled west’s COVID vaccine policies “immortal, entirely self-defeating and also an ethical, economic and epidemiological failure”. y warned that pandemic is not over and stated that failure to vaccinate world was done to “self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality”. 

“Two years since World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic – and faced with disturbingly unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines – we urge world leers to do what is necessary to end this crisis and unite behind a People’s Vaccine,” letter re. 

According to signatories of letter, an estimated 20 million deaths from COVID in past two years h been “avoidable”. While leers in wealthy countries h become “complacent”, billions of people globally remained vulnerable to virus and are facing severe illness and death, letter re. It also urged world leers to fund next stages of vaccines treatment and testing and provide protective equipment needed by healthcare workers around globe. y even warned that current vaccines may not work against future variants. 

'Pandemic is far from over...'

It is to mention that letter, coordinated by People’s Vaccine Alliance, comes on second anniversary of declaration by WHO that COVID-19 outbreak h become a pandemic. Political and business leers of around 40 countries, including former president of Malawi Joyce Banda, former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Paul Polman, former he of Unilever, and easyJet’s Johan Lundgren are among or signatories. 

In letter, Joyce Banda stated, “Let us be clear: this pandemic is far from over in Africa and across world. We are seeing, with each day, thousands of avoidable deaths.”

Furr, it said that a few pharmaceutical corporations retain power to dictate vaccine supply distribution and price, and “have power to decide who lives and dies”. It ded that it was up to world leers, and particularly rich countries, to change this situation. Meanwhile, it is to mention that letter comes after Amnesty International claimed last year that six pharmaceutical companies that h developed COVID vaccines were fuelling a global human rights crisis, citing ir refusal to sufficiently waive intellectual property rights, share vaccine technology and boost global vaccine supply. 

(Image: AP)