One year since the first jab - the fight for vaccine justice continues

Today marks one year since the first COVID jab was administered anywhere in the world - right here in the UK. We’re taking a look back over some of the key moments in the battle for global access since that first vaccine was administered.

In a sign of things to come, it took three more months for the first COVID jab to be administered in Africa in March. As rich countries hoarded limited vaccine supplies, countries in the global south struggled for access. That same month, India’s deadly second wave took hold, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The British government’s response was to order 10 million more vaccine doses from the Serum institute in India, diverting supplies from the major supplier to most countries of the global south while India was facing their own devastating COVID crisis.

By May, momentum was gathering behind a proposal by the Indian and South African governments to waive pharma companies’ intellectual property rights on COVID vaccines, treatments and tests. The TRIPS waiver would remove barriers for manufacturers around the world who could otherwise support the scale up of the medical supplies needed to end the pandemic.

Then on 5th May, the US government came out in support of a waiver on COVID vaccines, in an historic move for a country which is known for its proximity to the pharmaceutical industry. That same month, Pfizer forecast $26bn in sales per year from the vaccine - an incredible figure only made possible by the incredible power of their monopoly (they’ll end the year closer to a whopping $36bn in sales).

While the US pushed us one step closer to ending deadly monopolies on COVID vaccines, the UK has persisted in backing up big pharma’s financial interests and blocking agreement on the TRIPS waiver, along with other key countries such as Germany. Boris Johnson could have used his Presidency of the G7 in June to push meaningful action to end the global vaccine apartheid. Instead, we saw more promises of vaccine donations which fall far short of what is needed, with the UK simultaneously throwing away hundreds of thousands of vaccines which had expired.

September’s elections in Germany may yet prove a game changer, with a new alliance potentially signalling a shift in their position on the TRIPS waiver. The grim milestone reached in October of 5 million global deaths to COVID was a timely - and shocking - reminder of the urgent need for action to break pharma’s monopolies and end the vaccine apartheid.

As we headed for a key meeting of the World Trade Organisation in November where the critical issue of the waiver would be discussed, the very thing we had warned would happen, did happen. The failure to ensure equal, global access to a vaccine has left vast populations unvaccinated - and another new variant emerged. Omicron is a stark reminder of why the TRIPS waiver proposal is so urgently needed - and the timing just before the World Trade Organisation’s key meeting was an ironic reminder of the failure of governments around the world to act. The meeting was postponed, indefinitely.

One year on since the first vaccine and where do we find ourselves? Nearly 70% of the UK population is fully vaccinated. Only 7% of people in Africa have received both jabs. And while Pfizer, Moderna and BioNTech are making $1000 per second in profit, the level of inequity is stark and grossly immoral.

But while we’re a long way from where we wanted to be right now, there are reasons to be hopeful. The German elections could yet prove pivotal in the EU’s position on the TRIPS waiver. And we know the UK government will u-turn under enough pressure - timely actions and public demands could yet shift their position. The UK government has been too close with pharma for too long, and we plan to use patient led campaigning to take them on in the new year. Sign up to join us, and you can be a part of the campaign that stands up for patients in the face of private profit and corporate power.