Presidents, Nobel laureates, show business personalities, leading figures in the businessworld, politicians, mayors, academics. One hundred in all united in an appeal for vaccines to stop the Covid-19 are “a universal common good exempt from any proprietary patent rights”.
The signatures of Nobel laureates, politicians and artists
It was to write it Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, who with his foundation leads the initiative. Other Nobel winners of the caliber of Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop, former secretary of the Russian Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev, Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, musician Bono, entrepreneur Richard Branson, mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo , former Poland president Lech Walesa, actors George Clooney, Sharon Stone, Forest Whitaker and Matt Damon. Among them also some Italians: the former president of the European Commission and prime minister Romano Prodi, the singer Andrea Bocelli, the secretary of the Democratic Party Nicola Zingaretti, professors Luigino Bruni and Raffaele Lomonaco, the ecclesiastics Enzo Fortunato, Mauro Gambetti and Giulio Albanese . In particular, Zingaretti added, sharing the letter on Facebook: “We ask the Government to commit to this the next G20 meeting, we put together research, innovation, medicine to achieve this goal”.
by CARLO BONINI (COORDINATION AND TEXT), MICHELE BOCCI (ROME), ELENA DUSI (ROME), ANAIS GINORI (PARIS), LUCA FRAIOLI (ROME), ANTONELLO GUERRERA (LONDON), ANNA LOMBARDI (NEW YORK), ETTORE LIVINI (MILAN ), TONIA MASTROBUONI (BERLIN), SHARON NICE (TEL AVIV), FEDERICO RAMPINI (NEW YORK), FABIO TONACCI (ROME), FILIPPO SANTELLI (BEIJING). LAURA PERTICI MULTIMEDIA COORDINATION. GRAPHICS AND VIDEO BY GEDI VISUAL
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“There is an explosion of research and clinical trials to find cures and vaccines,” reads the letter. “The only way to definitively eradicate the pandemic is to have a vaccine that can be administered to all the inhabitants of the planet (…) who live in rich or poor countries (…). Governments, foundations, international financial organizations like the World Bank and regional development banks should elaborate details on how to make vaccines available for free. “
In the meantime, the one hundred and one are asking for transparency to determine the right compensation that must be paid to those who have done research. “It’s a long process. The estimated time for developing a Covid-19 vaccine is around 18 months minimum, which would be an absolute speed record.” Huge economic investments are needed and many private sector laboratories expect compensation. “We have to develop an unequivocal procedure to determine what would be the fair amount to make the vaccine publicly available,” the letter continues. “For this reason, the information provided by the private sector, scientists and authorities must be timely, accurate, clear, complete and transparent.” And the search results should be in the public domain.
A global action plan is also being asked of the WorldHealth Organization. “We call for an international committee to be set up to monitor vaccine research and to ensure equal access to the vaccine for all countries and people in a publicly announced time frame.”
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A vaccine for everyone
To all world leaders, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Director-General of the WorldHealth Organization, religious leaders, social leaders, moral leaders, leaders of research laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and media leaders , the hundred and one finally ask to join together to make sure that in case of the discovery of the Covid-19 vaccine there is a shared consensus for free universal access, long before its production and distribution. They are partially shared positions, especially in Europe, less on the other side of the ocean. –
