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La visión de PGA es contribuir a la creación de un orden internacional basado en el imperio de la ley para un mundo más equitativo, seguro, sostenible y democrático.

PGA calls for the universal access to safe, effective, and affordable vaccines against the COVID-19

New York/The Hague

As of 1 July 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that only a little less then 3 billion doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide so far. With only around 1% of people from low-income countries having received at least one dose, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) expresses concerns about the unsatisfactory fulfilment of the right to access safe, effective, and affordable vaccines.

In accordance with international law standards, everyone has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health[1]. This right has been recognized in numerous international and regional legally binding instruments, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The ICESCR requires States Parties to achieve by all appropriate means, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, the full realization of the rights recognized in the ICESCR, including the right to health, without any discrimination.[2] Accordingly, States Parties have an obligation to protect human rights by, for instance, providing assistance, particularly in developing countries, and ensuring the “prevention, treatment and control of epidemic […] diseases”[3] and the universal, unhindered and timely access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines. Equally, States Parties have an obligation to refrain from acting in a way that jeopardizes the full enjoyment of these rights. In addition to being distributed without any discrimination in all regions of the world, States should put all efforts to ensure that women and men, as well as girls and boys living in regions affected by armed conflicts and post-conflict situations, have access to vaccines. These internationally recognized standards have also been reiterated since the outbreak of the pandemic by various international bodies including the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Economic and Social Council.  

PGA also recalls Parliamentarians of the critical role they play in ensuring the fulfillment of the right to health. Most notably, lawmakers should encourage vaccination campaigns that are inclusive of women and girls and guarantee their safe and unhindered access to vaccines. PGA further welcomes the numerous statements made by Parliamentarians from all around to ensure universal access to safe and affordable vaccines, including:  

  • The Southern African Development Community Parliamentarians who called for measures to help Africa access COVID-10 vaccines. 
  • The ECOWAS Parliament who advocated for availability of vaccines for citizens in the sub-region. 
  • The ASEAN MPs who urged their governments to put human rights at center of the COVID-19 response. 
  • The Parliamentary Network to Combat HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie who invited Heads of States and government to commit to defining vaccines against the COVID-19 as “universal common goods.” 
  • The Parlatino, Parlacen, Parlandino, Parlasur and Parlamento Indigena who called for the universal production, purchase and access to COVID-19 vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean.  
  • Members of the European Parliament who supported the speedy authorization of safe vaccines and a strategy based on the principles of equal access, affordability and safety.  

Furthermore, PGA calls upon States to increase their efforts to ensure a truly global vaccination campaign that will be effective enough to stop the transmission of the virus and its variants, including the Delta and any other variants that might still emerge. PGA welcomes initiatives such as the commitment from the G-7 to donate 1 billion vaccine doses for low and low-middle income countries over the next year. However, this positive development should be followed up by additional commitments to ensure that much more vaccine doses would be made available towards the objective of universal vaccination by 2022.   

PGA therefore urgently calls for an increase in the global efforts to ensure timely, universal, and equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable vaccines. As the G-20 stressed on 21 May 2021 in its Rome Declaration, an alliance between the public and private sector, as well as multilateral efforts, must be supported to ensuring that effective vaccines against all variants are produced worldwide. Intellectual property rights, including patent protection, must be applied safely and without undermining the right to health or access to technologyPGA welcomes the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and its vaccines pillar COVAX, which is an important global collaboration between private and public entities to support the development and distribution of vaccines and will guarantee their availability to both higher and lower-income countries. We urge States to continue contributing to the ACT-Accelerator to bridge the current funding gaps and ensure its full capacity.  

Finally, PGA fully supports the global sharing of vaccines doses that are approved by the WHO. PGA wishes to recall that approving and negotiating access to COVID-19 vaccines must be a thorough, fully transparent, and independent process that should only be guided by global health considerations and universal safety rather than any political and geostrategic concerns. While it is unquestionable that affordable, safe, and effective vaccines must be distributed without discrimination, PGA seizes this opportunity to remind States that any measures which would limit the opening of their borders to only a sub-set of the WHO-approved vaccines would only increase divisions worldwide and aggravate already existing tensions (see the Joint COVAX statement on the Equal Recognition of Vaccines here).  



[1] For international instruments, see: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 12.1; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 5 (e) (iv); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, arts. 11 (1)(f), 12 and 14 (2)(b); the Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 24; the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, arts. 28, 43(e) and 45 (c); the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 25.  

For regional instruments, see: African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 16; the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 10; the European Social Charter, art. 11.  

[2] ICESCR, art. 2.  

[3] ICESCR, art. 12(2)(c).  

Statements and Resolutions

World Health Assembly

Resolution on the COVID-19 response(19 May 2020)

United Nations General Assembly

Resolution 74/274 on international cooperation to ensure global access to medicines, vaccines and medical equipment to face COVID-19

United Nations Security Council

Resolution 2565 (2021) (26 February 2021)

United Nations Human Rights Council

Resolution on promoting mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of human rights (16 March 2021)

Resolution on ensuring equitable, affordable, timely and universal access for all countries to vaccines in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (17 March 2021)

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Presidential Statement made on 20 April 2021 and sharing the key messages and recommendations that emerged from the High-Level Meeting on “A Vaccine for All” held on 16 April 2021 by the ECOSOC

G7 Health Ministers’ Communique(4 June 2021)

G7 foreign and development ministers’ statement (5 May 2021)

G7 Leaders’ statement (19 February 2021)

G-20

Rome Declaration (21 May 2021)made by leaders of the G-20 and other states

G20 Leaders Declaration during the Riyadh Summit (21-22 November 2020)

Other de facto inter-governmental entities

UN Political Declaration on Equitable Global Access to COVID-19 Vaccines, officially launched on 23 March 2021 and endorsed by 181 countries. This is an important document advocating for vaccine equity

Statements and Resolutions made by Inter-Parliamentary Entities
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)

Declaration/Call made on 22 January 2021 regarding the fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Parliamentary action on universal health coverage in times of COVID-19:

European Parliament (EP)

Support from MEP on speedy authorization of safe vaccines on 16 December 2020.

Declaration from MEPs on 24 February 2021 to urge the Commission and Member States not to block the TRIPS (Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights) temporary waiver at the WTO and to support global access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Motion for a Resolution presented on 2 June 2021 regarding meeting the COVID-19 challenges:

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA)

Addressing Vaccine Inequality in the Commonwealth – Including important recommendations of what Commonwealth Parliamentarians can do.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)

Resolution adopted on 27 January 2021: Towards a Covid-19 vaccine: ethical, legal and practical considerations. A very complete resolution which deals with:

Parlatino/Parlacen/Parlandino/Parlasur/Parlamento Indígena:

Declaración (11 June 2021) del Foro Interparlamentario Sobre Producción, Compra y Acceso Universal a Vacunas contra la Covid-19 en América Latina y el Caribe.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie

The Parliamentary Network to Combat HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie has adopted on 30 November 2020, a declaration inviting heads of state and government to consult and commit to defining vaccines against COVID-19 as “universal common goods.”

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (network/NGO; Not an inter-parl. entity)

On 23 March 2020, ASEAN MPs urge governments to put human rights at center of COVID-19 response.

ECOWAS Parliament

VIDEO:ECOWAS Parliament Advocates Availability of Vaccines for Citizens in Subregion.

Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADAC PF)

The SADAC PF calls for measures to help Africa access Covid-19 vaccines (28 June 2021).