More Nobel laureates joined appeal to declare Covid-19 vaccine a common good

Six more Nobel Laureates, two Nobel winning organisations and a distinguished scientist have joined the appeal to declare Covid-19 vaccines a global common good.

Nobel Peace Laureates Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Mohammed Al Baradei, Ouided Bouchamaoui, Mohamed Fadhel Mahfoudh, Juan Manuel Santos, and Nobel Laureate in Medicine & Physiology Peter Doherty, and Australian-Austrian scientist Sir Gustav Nossal who has worked on antibody formation and immunological response are the new signatories to the pledge, said the Yunus Centre on Tuesday.

Sergio Duarte, President of Pugwash Conferences, and Lisa Pelletti Co-President of The International Peace Bureau signed on behalf of their organisations, bringing the total signatories to 131 dignitaries who have signed the pledge.

Among them, 27 are Nobel Laureates.

Yunus Centre invited all to join the appeal - www.vaccinecommongood.org
 
Earlier, some 32 former chiefs of states and governments, political leaders, artists, international NGOs and institutions signed the appeal.
 
Muhammad Yunus, Desmond Tutu, Mikhail Gorbachev, Malala Yousafzai, Bono, Richard Branson, Lech Walesa, Jody Williams, Mahathir Mohamad, Lula, George Clooney, Sharon Stone, Forest Whitaker, Leymah Gbowee, Mary Robinson, Tawakkol Karman, Ratan Tata, Azim Premji, Shabana Azmi, Anne Hidalgo, Thomas Bach, Andrea Bocelli, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Mohammed Al Baradei, Ouided Bouchamaoui, Mohamed Fadhel Mahfoudh, Juan Manuel Santos, and Peter Doherty and other world leaders made the appeal to declare Corona vaccine a global common good, said the Yunus Centre.
 
The unified appeal is urging action from governments, foundations, philanthropists and social businesses to come forward to produce and/or distribute the vaccines all over the world for free.

They said the Covid-19 pandemic is clearly exposing the strength and weaknesses of healthcare systems in every country and highlights the obstacles and inequities in gaining access to healthcare.
 
The effectiveness of the upcoming vaccination campaign will depend on its universality, said the signatories of the appeal.
 
The signatories pleaded to all world leaders including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Director-General of the World Health Organization, religious leaders, social and moral leaders, leaders of research laboratories and pharmaceutical companies and the media to join hands and ensure that in the case of a Covid-19 vaccine, we have a global consensus that it must be deployed as a global common good.

(Source: UNB)