Pharmaceutical companies tragically fail to rise to challenge of global health crisis - Amnesty

Pharmaceutical companies "tragically failed" to rise to the challenge of the global health crisis caused by the coronavirus despite urgent calls to ensure the equal distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, Amnesty International said on Monday.

According to Amnesty, pharmaceutical companies selling Covid vaccines monopolized technology, lobbied against the sharing of intellectual property, charged high prices for vaccines and prioritized supplies to wealthy countries in 2021.

The 10 billion vaccine doses produced last year would have been more than enough to reach the 40% target of global vaccination set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the end of last year.

Only 4% of those living in low-income countries were fully vaccinated by the end of last year. "More than 1.2 billion people in low and lower-middle income countries could have been vaccinated by the end of 2021 if high-income countries and vaccine makers took their human rights obligations and responsibilities to heart," said Rajat Khosla, Amnesty International's senior director of research, advocacy and policy.

Earlier this month, the WHO said that another $16 billion are needed to help low-income countries tackle the pandemic.

This is the size of the gap in the budget for supplying countries with vaccines, tests and medicines through a programme launched by the United Nations, the WHO said.