As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, vaccines are among the most powerful tools we have to protect humanity from infectious diseases. Luckily, there’s a plan to develop vaccines within 100 days of a pandemic threat being identified, known as the 100 Days Mission.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a global partnership working on this ‘100 Days Mission’ to ensure that everyone around the world has access to the vaccines that are developed. Last year, RESULTS campaigners asked the UK Government to invest £300 million in CEPI over 5 years. Thank you if you took action! At that time, the UK only provided £160 million through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, and overall, CEPI is US $1.5 billion short of its funding target.
In May this year, the G7 Leaders’ Summit will be a chance for wealthy countries to recommit themselves to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, recognising the importance of vaccines as global public goods. The UK Government should support the 100 Days Mission at the G7 Leaders’ Summit by increasing its investment in CEPI to £300 million, using resources additional to the ODA budget, for the period 2022-2026.
Please write to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to take action at the G7. You can read our action materials here, and you might want to take inspiration for your letter from our e-action, which you can also forward to family and friends to sign. As always, please tailor your letter or email to express your personal views about why pandemic prevention, preparedness and response is a big issue. This will make it much more memorable!
Image: Manufacturing of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in India. Credit: Gavi / 2020