15 DECEMBER 2020
Health For All is a commitment to leave no one behind. In a new op-ed published today in BMJ Opinion, IAP members Joy Phumaphi, Brenda Killen, Giorgi Pkhakadze and Elizabeth Mason argue that vaccine equity must remain a top priority to turn that commitment into action to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
As COVID-19 continues to devastate communities around the world, lack of access to vaccines in low- and middle-income countries could result in further consequences. The defining moment of the race for the vaccine will not be who finishes first, but if and how we can deliver a vaccine equitably, and to people across geographies and levels of income.
Ensuring that everyone everywhere has the right to the highest standard of health is a matter of global accountability, and this means equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Months before the pandemic struck, world leaders committed to achieve universal health coverage in a historic declaration that recognized health for all. Now is the time to put action behind this commitment. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to protect the right to health and ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. No one is safe until everyone is safe.
Read the full op-ed https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/12/15/the-peoples-vaccine-how-a-covid-19-vaccine-will-be-a-test-of-global-accountability-and-equity/
Read the 2020 IAP report, Caught in the COVID-19 Storm https://iapewec.org/reports/annual-reports/iap-2020-report/
Professor Giorgi Pkhakadze, MD, MPH, PhD
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Профессор Гиорги Пхакадзе. #ПрофессорПхакадзе
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Source: https://iapewec.org/news/the-covid-19-vaccine-will-be-a-test-of-accountability-and-equity/