UK ‘haemorrhaging moral authority’ over supply of Covid drugs for poor world

Exclusive: Only India ranks lower out of the G20 in league table drawn up by campaigners

(Leon Neal/PA) (PA Wire)

The UK has been warned it is “haemorrhaging moral authority” after tumbling into second-last place in the league table for the global fight against Covid-19.

Only India ranked behind Britain in the analysis of G20 states conducted by charity Christian Aid and the People’s Vaccine Alliance.

But the campaigners said none of the group – made up of the world’s 19 most powerful national economies and the EU – was doing enough to fight the pandemic in poorer countries around the globe.

The ranking is an update of an index released by Christian Aid in March and endorsed by former prime minister Gordon Brown. Since that point, the UK has fallen from 17^th to 18^th place among the 19 G20 states.

Based on research by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the index ranks G20 countries in three areas: global vaccine financing, national procurement and distribution, and support for trade and manufacturing policy reforms.

It found that all G20 countries are falling far short of “good global citizen” standards, after after rich countries hoarded vaccine doses, upheld pharmaceutical companies’ monopoly on supply and disrupted efforts to improve vaccine manufacturing in the global south.

The UK was marked down for its role in obstructing efforts at the World Trade Organisation to make it easier for low and middle-income countries to produce generic versions of Covid-19 treatments and tests.

Over two years, negotiators for Britain, Switzerland and the EU blocked proposals, backed by most G20 countries, for a broad waiver of intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines, said campaigners. And the text they finally agreed in June was watered down from initial proposals.

A December deadline to extend the text to cover Covid-19 tests and treatments is reportedly being delayed by Britain.

Christian Aid chief of policy Oliver Pearce said: “The richest countries have a responsibility to improve global access to Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, given their wealth and high vaccination rates.

“Governments financed research and development of these products and should not leave pharmaceutical companies to monopolise supply and price.

“But, amid a collision of international crises, the UK is turning its back on the world and undermining efforts to produce more vaccines, tests, and treatments in lower-income countries.

“By holding back the global pandemic response, the UK is haemorrhaging moral authority amongst international partners.”

(Christian Aid/People’s Vaccine Alliance)

South Africa was ranked top of the G20 list and Indonesia second for their record of supporting a waiver of intellectual property (IP) rules on medical products relevant to COVID-19 at the WTO.

Speaking as the Indonesia-hosted G20 summit drew to an end in Bali, People’s Vaccine Alliance Asia campaign co-ordinator Lanz Espacio said: “This year’s G20 summit feels a long way from the days when world leaders once said ‘no one is safe until everyone is safe’.

“Not a single G20 country has lived up to its responsibility to combat Covid-19 around the world. Low and middle-income countries are sick of waiting for what the rich world may offer.

“We need to remove barriers like intellectual property rules to bolster medicine production in the global south.”