(AGENPARL) - Roma, 15 Luglio 2022 - (AGENPARL) – ven 15 luglio 2022 15 July 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pfizer CEO “peddling myths and pointing fingers” over Africa’s vaccination rates, campaigners say
Pfizer CEO Abert Bourla told an audience at a Chatham House event on Thursday (14 July) that vaccination rates in some parts of Africa were as low as 10% due to “hesitancy,” and because “they are lacking infrastructure. He said that the ”WHO should have done a better job, I think, in preparing the ground in these countries, so that when vaccines will come, they will use [them]”.
Responding, Maaza Seyoum, Global South Convenor of the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said:
“It is rank hypocrisy for Albert Bourla to blame the WHO or the victims of vaccine inequity for low vaccine coverage. Those of us who actually care about African lives are grateful to the WHO for spending time advocating for equitable access when companies like Pfizer weren’t providing doses for developing countries.
“As Pfizer’s CEO, Bourla chose to prioritise selling doses to rich countries above all else. He also refused to share vaccine technology with the world. That undermined global vaccination efforts, leaving developing countries dependent on unreliable donations. How dare he claim – without evidence – that people who have been denied access to vaccines are ‘hesitant’?
“Two things have happened in every minute of this pandemic: Pfizer and Moderna have made $65,000 and someone in a lower-income country whose death could have been prevented has died. Every single minute. Albert Bourla is peddling myths and pointing fingers, but few are more responsible for low vaccination rates in Africa than him.”
/Ends
Notes to editors
This comment is a reaction to comments from Albert Bourla to an audience at an on-the-record event at Chatham House, as reported in POLITICO.
Pfizer and Moderna are making $65,000 every minute, or $1,000 every second, according to Oxfam and People’s Vaccine Alliance analysis of company reports: [https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pfizer-biontech-and-moderna-making-1000-profit-every-second-while-worlds-poorest](http://tracking.vuelio.co.uk/tracking/click?d=rwMbXA-5kTje6nsCDPeRALWuSV0BI0y17Vh5WXjKtDnpcnD-5jeCTzvRSKpa5aqOfIsx1P-OgS_1yiRGsZ7qdeNe6T0rQy0-Xu3BmE0iY8MMB_k9HlILSJMfXTdMryvJPulNaBseMZmgyT47LVabHiVjFjVj3MLasSbH0kDud_okMuWk4clqNbSijbzi9gM37ss0dkNRCkYwTvQI1w33mn359aK-D7Oprs8zbCcn5UNt1gj4Bb9SSfiHnmbrahWNSFd6triKxgCxbnWxH8b2MuM1)
Failing to meet WHO vaccination targets led to 600,000 preventable COVID-19 deaths from 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021, equivalent to one death every minute. Oxfam and People’s Vaccine Alliance analysis of a study published in The Lancet: [https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/g7-vaccines-failures-contribute-600000-preventable-deaths](http://tracking.vuelio.co.uk/tracking/click?d=w-_FypZBADjuDnsoUhgxtQv0ceY7YuqchiY5doGGtZi-BDELbovji29munsbDINVBy6A_kVobIqzZDh8ZTMqXH6py-d6oNSOYz4uH3lAGi5Mj9u_77AnjZ4ByU8zCwCSv_1xLETRZWR5EhX4Q_cpyE2i123mMZg1b-ILqmwu2VZz_jToflrmYEwhBZ-Wvw-kQbQbRfTyFzDMJobOFz1VmuUmVlT2b-MXnp0haD1zK6-40)
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Joe Karp-Sawey, senior media advisor, People’s Vaccine Alliance
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