DSA and Heads of Centres’ press statement on Covid-19 vaccine

The British government’s contradictory approach to the global distribution of coronavirus vaccines risks undermining the impressive contribution that UK science has made to tackle the pandemic. Whilst the UK is currently the most generous funder of Covax and the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be made available at-cost in the global South, we have joined other wealthy countries in hoarding large amounts of available vaccines. This directly limits supply to more vulnerable people in low-income countries and is both morally wrong and strategically short-sighted. The pandemic must be tackled everywhere for UK citizens to be truly safe and becoming ‘Global Britain’ requires us to ensure that the fruits of our scientific prowess serve for the benefit of all. This is a case in which ethical demands coincide with our national interest.

We urge the UK government to take the following three steps: first, to generously finance vaccine distribution in low-income countries and support distribution to the most critical groups in ways that strengthens health systems for the long term; second, to promote the expansion of production capabilities in the global South, so that more firms can produce vaccines for this and for future pandemics; and, third, to distribute a significant proportion of our current supply of vaccines to low-income countries.

While the UK has been impacted hard by the pandemic, we remain a world leader in global health and global development research. This excellence now needs to be aligned to a vision and form of political leadership that prioritises a more cooperative approach to tackling the challenge of global vaccine supply and delivery.

On behalf of the Development Studies Association and the following centres of development studies:

Prof Sam Hickey, DSA President, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester

Prof Melissa Leach, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Prof Diego Sánchez-Ancochea, Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford

Prof Uma Kambhampati, DSA Secretary, Department of Economics, University of Reading

Prof Kathryn Hochstetler, Department of International Development, London School of Economics

Prof Michael Walls, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London

Prof Zoe Marriage, Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London