Akufo-Addo signs UNAIDS public letter to make coronavirus vaccine free for all

President Akufo-Addo has joined a long list of leaders across the globe who have penned their signatures down to make the Coronavirus vaccine, when obtained, available to all persons regardless of their class, social status or race.

The global agreement letter put out by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS(UNAIDS) was to help make the yet to be developed vaccine for the global pandemic available for humanity free of charge.

“We are calling on Health Ministers at the World Health Assembly to rally behind a people’s vaccine against this disease urgently. Governments and international partners must unite around a global guarantee which ensures that, when a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it is produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge. The same applies for all treatments, diagnostics, and other technologies for COVID-19.

We recognize that many countries and international organizations are making progress towards this goal, cooperating multilaterally on research and development, funding and access, including the welcome $8 billion pledged on 4th May. Thanks to tireless public and private sector efforts and billions of dollars of publicly-financed research, many vaccine candidates are proceeding with unprecedented speed and several have begun clinical trials.

Our world will only be safer once everyone can benefit from the science and access a vaccine - and that is a political challenge. The World Health Assembly must forge a global agreement that ensures rapid universal access to quality-assured vaccines and treatments with need prioritized above the ability to pay,” part of the letter reads.

Taking to his Twitter page, President Akufo-Addo wrote:

“Together with other global leaders, I signed the @UNAIDS Public Letter on a People’s Vaccine for #COVID19. It is important that all people everywhere must have access to the vaccine when one becomes available. It must be the #People’s Vaccine.”

Together with other global leaders, I signed the @UNAIDS Public Letter on a People’s Vaccine for #COVID19. It is important that all people everywhere must have access to the vaccine when one becomes available. It must be the #PeoplesVaccine.

— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) May 15, 2020

Many countries across the globe are currently grappling with the Coronavirus and its effects on human resource and the economy.

As it stands, there are over 4.5 million confirmed cases of the pandemic with more than 300,000 deaths and 1.63 million recoveries.

Ghana's current case count is 5638 confirmed cases with 1460 recoveries and 28 deaths.

Other leaders across the globe who have signed the UNAIDS Public Letter include;

Imran Khan - Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Cyril Ramaphosa - President of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the African Union

Macky Sall - President of the Republic of Senegal

Karen Koning Abuzayd - Commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria, Under-Secretary-General as UNRWA Commissioner-General (2005-2010)

Maria Elena Agüero - Secretary-General, World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid

Esko Aho - Prime Minister of Finland (1991-1995)

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar - Former UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Rashid Alimov - Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (2016-2019), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan (1992-1994)

Amat Alsoswa - Former Yemen’s Minister for Human Rights, Former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director/ Arab States Bureau, among others.

Read the full letter here