SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A healthcare worker holds vials containing doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine on February 18, 2021 in South Africa. (Photo: Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images)
'Activism Works': EU to Return Covid Vaccines to Africa After Backlash
"We can and must overcome greedy pharma and selfish rich governments' business as usual."
Sep 03, 2021
The European Union has agreed to return to Africa millions of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine doses that were shipped out of the continent under a contract arrangement that drew widespread backlash from vaccine equity campaigners and African officials.
As the Wall Street Journalreported Thursday, the South Africa-based pharmaceutical giant Aspen "has a contract with J&J to fill into vials and package the U.S. company's vaccine, with some 40% of its production slated for export to Europe through September and the rest going to African countries."
When the details of the contract first emerged last month, Fatima Hassan of the South Africa-based Health Justice Initiative called the agreement "the sickening result of the free market in a pandemic--while Africa waits for supplies and gets a drip feed, more vaccine stock is diverted to Europe."
But Strive Masiyiwa, head of the African Union's Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, said Thursday that the "arrangement has been suspended." Masiyiwa said less than 20 million doses were exported to the E.U. under the deal.
"All the vaccines from this facility are now under the control of the South African government," he added.
\u201cYup, HALTED, because of activist pressure and excellent reporting from New York Times that blew this wide open.\n\nWe warned for months abt missing vaccines. So glad that we managed to halt this. \n\nTransparency, not secrecy.\u201d— Fatima Hassan @FatimaHassan@mastodon.social (@Fatima Hassan @FatimaHassan@mastodon.social) 1630619040
The People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 70 international public health and human rights organizations, called the suspension of the agreement "a step in the right direction" and said that "African manufacturers should be allowed to produce for Africans."
"Activism works! We can and must overcome greedy pharma and selfish rich governments' business as usual," the coalition tweeted. "We need a people's vaccine."
According to the latest data, just 11% of South Africa's population--and less than 3% of the total population of the African continent--has been fully vaccinated. By contrast, around 70% of adults in the E.U. have been fully inoculated against Covid-19.
"In Africa, the issue is vaccine supply," Masiyiwa said Thursday. "Even if there are loud noises about vaccine hesitancy--and we will not dismiss it--but let's get to 60%, OK, and then we worry about the 40%."
"But if 60% of our population right now are happy to take the vaccine," he added, "let's give it to them."
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The European Union has agreed to return to Africa millions of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine doses that were shipped out of the continent under a contract arrangement that drew widespread backlash from vaccine equity campaigners and African officials.
As the Wall Street Journalreported Thursday, the South Africa-based pharmaceutical giant Aspen "has a contract with J&J to fill into vials and package the U.S. company's vaccine, with some 40% of its production slated for export to Europe through September and the rest going to African countries."
When the details of the contract first emerged last month, Fatima Hassan of the South Africa-based Health Justice Initiative called the agreement "the sickening result of the free market in a pandemic--while Africa waits for supplies and gets a drip feed, more vaccine stock is diverted to Europe."
But Strive Masiyiwa, head of the African Union's Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, said Thursday that the "arrangement has been suspended." Masiyiwa said less than 20 million doses were exported to the E.U. under the deal.
"All the vaccines from this facility are now under the control of the South African government," he added.
\u201cYup, HALTED, because of activist pressure and excellent reporting from New York Times that blew this wide open.\n\nWe warned for months abt missing vaccines. So glad that we managed to halt this. \n\nTransparency, not secrecy.\u201d— Fatima Hassan @FatimaHassan@mastodon.social (@Fatima Hassan @FatimaHassan@mastodon.social) 1630619040
The People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 70 international public health and human rights organizations, called the suspension of the agreement "a step in the right direction" and said that "African manufacturers should be allowed to produce for Africans."
"Activism works! We can and must overcome greedy pharma and selfish rich governments' business as usual," the coalition tweeted. "We need a people's vaccine."
According to the latest data, just 11% of South Africa's population--and less than 3% of the total population of the African continent--has been fully vaccinated. By contrast, around 70% of adults in the E.U. have been fully inoculated against Covid-19.
"In Africa, the issue is vaccine supply," Masiyiwa said Thursday. "Even if there are loud noises about vaccine hesitancy--and we will not dismiss it--but let's get to 60%, OK, and then we worry about the 40%."
"But if 60% of our population right now are happy to take the vaccine," he added, "let's give it to them."
The European Union has agreed to return to Africa millions of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine doses that were shipped out of the continent under a contract arrangement that drew widespread backlash from vaccine equity campaigners and African officials.
As the Wall Street Journalreported Thursday, the South Africa-based pharmaceutical giant Aspen "has a contract with J&J to fill into vials and package the U.S. company's vaccine, with some 40% of its production slated for export to Europe through September and the rest going to African countries."
When the details of the contract first emerged last month, Fatima Hassan of the South Africa-based Health Justice Initiative called the agreement "the sickening result of the free market in a pandemic--while Africa waits for supplies and gets a drip feed, more vaccine stock is diverted to Europe."
But Strive Masiyiwa, head of the African Union's Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, said Thursday that the "arrangement has been suspended." Masiyiwa said less than 20 million doses were exported to the E.U. under the deal.
"All the vaccines from this facility are now under the control of the South African government," he added.
\u201cYup, HALTED, because of activist pressure and excellent reporting from New York Times that blew this wide open.\n\nWe warned for months abt missing vaccines. So glad that we managed to halt this. \n\nTransparency, not secrecy.\u201d— Fatima Hassan @FatimaHassan@mastodon.social (@Fatima Hassan @FatimaHassan@mastodon.social) 1630619040
The People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 70 international public health and human rights organizations, called the suspension of the agreement "a step in the right direction" and said that "African manufacturers should be allowed to produce for Africans."
"Activism works! We can and must overcome greedy pharma and selfish rich governments' business as usual," the coalition tweeted. "We need a people's vaccine."
According to the latest data, just 11% of South Africa's population--and less than 3% of the total population of the African continent--has been fully vaccinated. By contrast, around 70% of adults in the E.U. have been fully inoculated against Covid-19.
"In Africa, the issue is vaccine supply," Masiyiwa said Thursday. "Even if there are loud noises about vaccine hesitancy--and we will not dismiss it--but let's get to 60%, OK, and then we worry about the 40%."
"But if 60% of our population right now are happy to take the vaccine," he added, "let's give it to them."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.