“Whoever Finds the Vaccine Must Share It” – Strengthening Human Rights and Transparency Around Covid-19 Vaccines

30th October 2020

“Whoever Finds the Vaccine Must Share It” – Strengthening Human Rights and Transparency Around Covid-19 Vaccines

The Covid-19 pandemic is among the gravest global health and economic crises in history. By mid-October 2020, it had taken the lives of more than a million and infected at least another 38 million, leaving many of them severely ill. Its social and economic consequences have been widespread and devastating. There is a growing movement of advocates, including Covid-19 survivors and loved ones of those who died, calling for a “people’s vaccine.”

World over, people are pinning their hopes on potential Covid-19 vaccines. The race to develop Covid-19 vaccines has made headlines nearly every day since the World Health Organization (WHO) first described Covid-19 as a pandemic in March 2020. By mid-October 2020, more than 40 vaccine candidates were in clinical trials, and more than 150 others were in earlier stages. Of the top 10 vaccine candidates in the final phase of clinical trials, companies or research institutes headquartered in China, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States were involved in developing them.

Universal and equitable access to a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine is critical to ending the pandemic, or if no vaccine provides absolute immunity, preventing severe illness and death while protecting livelihoods and allowing battered economies to recover from the consequences of the pandemic.

Report by the Human Rights Watch