PRESSURE is growing for the British government and pharmaceutical companies across the globe to end the “vaccine apartheid” of restrictive patents, which deny supplies to poorer countries. 

One year on from the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) declaration of the coronavirus pandemic, fresh campaigns have been launched to unlock vaccines for low and middle-income countries and accelerate the end of global restrictions. 

Amnesty International is launching its “A Fair Shot” campaign today, urging politicians and pharmaceuticals giants, such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna, to share knowledge and technology to maximise the number of doses of vaccines available worldwide.

The group is calling on governments to avoid “vaccine nationalism” and work together so those most at risk of Covid-19 can access life-saving preventative treatment immediately.

Amnesty International head of economic and social justice Stephen Cockburn said: “Who gets access to a Covid-19 vaccine, when, and at what price, are some of the most significant and contested questions facing our societies today. But the answers are being shaped by the interests of powerful states and companies.

“So far they’ve created a dangerous situation with global inequalities in vaccine access spiralling out of control. A few rich countries are racing ahead, while the rest of the world struggles to get off the starting line.”

The move comes amid a battle at the WHO to suspend intellectual property on Covid-19 vaccines, spearheaded by India and South Africa. 

The move could rapidly increase vaccine production by suspending patents on all Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic and allowing a global expansion of manufacturing. 

High-income countries have bought up more than half of all vaccines despite comprising just 16 per cent of global population. 

Rich countries like Britain have started rapidly vaccinating their populations, but not a single dose had been administered in 130 nations by mid-February, with estimates suggesting nearly half of countries won’t have widespread vaccination until 2023.

In a protest organised by Global Justice Now on Tuesday night, projections reading “People’s Vaccine Not Profit Vaccine” and “Drop The Patents: End Vaccine Aparthied” were beamed onto the London office of pharma lobbyists the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden said: “It’s nothing short of obscene that the richest countries in the world are pulling the ladder up behind them as they vaccinate their own populations.

“We have the capacity to rapidly roll out vaccines across the world, but factories are lying idle because governments like ours are putting corporate profits ahead of the lives of people across the world. 

“We have a golden opportunity to change course. If we don’t, we’ll be complicit in a historic failure that will cost countless more lives.”

An online rally organised by the People’s Vaccine Alliance calling on pharma giants to stop standing in the way of measures to increase global production on the Covid-19 vaccine was held on Wednesday night, featuring US Senator Bernie Sanders and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

Ms Lucas said: “When all is said and done, the fruits of our collective effort have been handed over to a group of gigantic corporations, some of which are making a fortune off the back of these vaccines.  

“What’s more, these corporations now decide which countries get to vaccinate their populations immediately, which have to wait, and who pays what price for the vaccines.  

“This has not only perpetuated existing inequalities, it has created whole new, previously unimaginable, levels of discrimination, which have shocked the whole world. 

“We cannot allow our remarkable collective effort in this pandemic to be reduced to nothing more than an opportunity for a few to profit.”

The Department for Health and Social Care and the ABPI were approached for comment.

Bryan Deane, ABPI’s director of new medicines and data policy said: “Industry is determined to help achieve fair access to Covid-19 treatments and vaccines, but patents are not a barrier to this. Intellectual property protection has fostered innovation in recent years – including for Covid-19.

“When it comes to global supply, increasing capacity requires the skills and technical know-how of the vaccine developer to be shared with partner manufacturing organisations, through voluntary licensing and tech-transfer agreements.  

"This is the only way to make sure the manufacturing process is replicated exactly every time, to the same standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

“This approach has already increased capacity for Covid-19 vaccines from  zero to 10bn doses in just a few months.

“Pharmaceutical companies will continue to work with partners, including through Gavi and COVAX, to achieve fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.”