Oxfam and PVA statement at INB 7

Delivered by Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Policy Co-Lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, at the sixth Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB7) meeting on 6th November 2023

Thank you.
I speak on behalf of Oxfam and People Vaccine Alliance

As you start negotiation, we urge you to ensure that the Pandemic Accord has binding commitments to achieve equity. The current draft falls short of such a goal.

We strongly recommend that the draft Accord includes:

1. Binding commitment to share pandemic related products equitably especially when demand outstrips supply.
2. Mandating public R&D funding and purchasing to be conditioned on supplying developing countries, sharing technology and removing IP barriers.
3. Binding commitment to share technology to enable local production. Almost two and half years since the WHO mRNA programme was announced, not one single pharmaceutical company shared the technology and know-how with it. Today WHO announced Health Technology Access Pool and we urge the Accord to support it.
4. Prioritising funding for collaborative research and long-term financing for diversified regional R&D and production hubs.
5. Balancing the current obligations on developing countries for expanded surveillance, with obligations on rich countries to share products and financial benefits under the PABS system. There is no moral or public health justification for LMICs to share pathogens and wait for the good will of pharmaceutical companies.
6. Financing of PPPR and health systems through common but differentiated responsibilities principle.

You have a lifetime opportunity to protect public health. A test of whether you are truly committed to protecting the most vulnerable or the commercial interest of the few.

Thank you.

Notes:
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