2021 Political declaration on equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines

UNGA ple­nary
11 March 2021

Result of an infor­mal meet­ing of the UNGA
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Analysis of precedential value

This dec­la­ra­tion was released fol­low­ing the UN Gen­eral Assem­bly (UNGA) Infor­mal Meet­ing on Polit­i­cal Dec­la­ra­tion on Equi­table Global Access to COVID-19 Vac­cines on 26 March 2021. The meet­ing was called to review a draft of this res­o­lu­tion sent to the UNGA’s Pres­i­dent; the dec­la­ra­tion was co-authored by rep­re­sen­ta­tives from 18 UN Mem­ber States and the Euro­pean Union, and it had the sup­port of 160 other del­e­gates upon sub­mis­sion. By 13 May 2021, it had 182 sig­na­to­ries.

Used as precedent

key and vulnerable populations

We also com­mit to ensur­ing trans­par­ent and fair access to vac­cines to those at a higher risk of devel­op­ing severe COVID-19 symp­toms and the most vul­ner­a­ble, on the basis of med­ical and eth­i­cal stan­dards.

access to health products

We call for the rapid scal­ing up and expan­sion of vac­cine pro­duc­tion glob­ally, includ­ing in devel­op­ing coun­tries, through appro­pri­ate dis­sem­i­na­tion of tech­nol­ogy and know-how, e.g., licens­ing in accor­dance with World Trade Orga­ni­za­tions rules, using TRIPS flex­i­bil­i­ties if nec­es­sary, shar­ing knowl­edges, and data related to COVID-19 health tech­nolo­gies.

universal health coverage

We are con­cerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pan­demic on other immu­niza­tion pro­grams. In this regard, we reaf­firm our com­mit­ment to uni­ver­sal health cov­er­age, includ­ing for immu­niza­tion, and call upon all gov­ern­ments, donors and all rel­e­vant stake­hold­ers to redou­ble their efforts to ensure that fund­ing rel­e­vant to rou­tine vac­ci­na­tion cam­paigns is not diverted to meet the require­ments posed by COVID-19, and that national health sys­tems are strength­ened. includ­ing the health work­force, in order to address sys­temic health issues beyond COVID-19.