Nuffield Council on Bioethics signs WHO’s vaccine equity declaration

Today we have signed the WHO’s vaccine equity declaration.

The declaration calls on all countries to work together in solidarity – and in each of their best interests – to ensure that vaccination of health workers and older people will be underway in all countries within the first 100 days of the year.

Vaccines are now being distributed in over 70 countries across the world, with health workers rightly among the first groups to receive them. However, in the majority of low- and middle-income countries, vaccination hasn’t started.

We believe that the value of equity should be given the greatest weight in decision-making around vaccines in the COVID-19 pandemic, both nationally and globally. The best way to end this pandemic, stop future variants, and saves lives is to limit the spread of the virus by vaccinating quickly and equitably, starting with healthcare workers.

The call to action highlights many of the challenges that we flagged in our own briefing note on fair and equitable access to COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.