The Vatican has strongly reaffirmed the urgency of identifying suitable systems for transparency and collaboration over COVID-19 vaccine efforts.
The Pontifical Academy for Life, in an open letter signed by its president Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia and chancellor Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, said there is too much antagonism and competition over COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution.
There is a risk of severe injustices in such vaccine efforts, said the Jan. 22 letter that quoted Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi message issued on Christmas day.
“I ask everyone — government leaders, businesses, international organizations — to foster cooperation and not competition, and to seek a solution for everyone: vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable and needy of all regions of the planet,” the pope said. “Before all others: the most vulnerable and needy!”
The letter said the pope’s words require responsible listening on the part of the entire Christian community, of believers, of all men and women of good will.
It further pointed out that the Dicastery for Integral Human Development and the academy issued a special document on Dec. 29 on the importance of vaccination and the modalities that can make the vaccine a common good for everybody.
“It was asked, among other things, to overcome the logic of ‘vaccine nationalism’, understood as an attempt by the various states to have their own vaccine more quickly, in any case obtaining the necessary quantity for their inhabitants first,” the letter said.
“International agreements must be promoted and supported to manage patents in order to facilitate everyone’s access to the product and avoid possible ‘commercial short circuits’, also to keep the price controlled in the future as well,” it said.
“Industrial production of the vaccine should become a collaborative operation between states, pharmaceutical companies and other organizations so that it can be carried out simultaneously in different areas of the world.”
The letter pointed out that what is faced now is an extraordinary opportunity for a new, more supportive future which it said was possible — at least in part — in the research into vaccines.
“In the same spirit, a positive synergy must be initiated by enhancing the production and distribution facilities available in the various areas where the vaccines will be administered, on the basis of the subsidiarity principle,” the letter said.
“It is therefore to be avoided that some countries receive the vaccine very late because of shortages due to the prior purchase of large quantities by the richer states. Vaccine distribution requires a series of tools that need to be specified and implemented to achieve the agreed goals in terms of universal accessibility,” it added.
“A reminder to national governments and organizations of the European Union and the WHO to take action in this sense appears to be increasingly strong and urgent.”
The academy’s letter comes as countries struggle to contain the coronavirus, including new strains, while mass vaccination programs begin in some Asian nations; with South Korea starting to set up vaccination centers with the goal of vaccinating up to 70 percent of its 52 million population until September. Meanwhile India has mapped out a plan to vaccinate around 300 million people by July-August.
With Reuters
