In response to the US Administration’s new recommendations for a third vaccine shot, Robbie Silverman, senior advocacy manager for the private sector, made the following statement:
“The recommendation for a third dose of vaccine for Americans, even as front-line medical workers in much of the world wait for their first shot, underscores the need to urgently and massively increase production so that everyone, everywhere could have access to these life-saving vaccines.
“Instead of working collaboratively to make sure that we have enough doses for everyone, rich countries bought up the world's limited vaccine supply for their own population, outbidding poorer countries with less ability to pay, and massively enriching the pharmaceutical companies that hold the monopoly on the vaccines.
“This vaccine hoarding is not only morally wrong, but also shortsighted and dangerous. As the Delta variant clearly demonstrates, if COVID is left unchecked in other parts of the world, a mutation can threaten the effectiveness of our vaccines. And then we will be back to square one. To truly get this virus under control, we need to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible—that is only path to true immunity.
“Rather than slicing the existing pie of vaccines ever more finely, we need to share the recipe so that we have enough for everyone. The Biden Administration must work quickly to rally other leaders and the necessary resources to increase manufacturing, technological transfer, and know how.
“We need a People's Vaccine, in which we share the vaccine recipe, leverage the world's full manufacturing capacity, and produce enough doses for everyone. No one will be safe until everyone is safe.”