“The severe health and economic crisis caused by the current coronavirus pandemic is destroying millions of jobs and making the remaining ones precarious, which is increasing poverty, misery and economic and social inequality around the world, widening the gap between North and South”, begins the manifesto signed by global union federations and various organizations from around the world, that highlight the urgency of “saving lives and protecting jobs”.

“We must proclaim that vaccines are a common good of humanity from which no private profit can be made, largely because a huge amount of public money has been invested in their development, and that it is a political and moral obligation to vaccinate the entire population without discrimination of income or nationality”, the organizations write, demanding that governments and multilateral agencies act to implement an international vaccination system different from the “market model that currently governs the trade and distribution of goods and vaccines”.

To achieve this objective, the signatory entities defend the suspension of the patents of Covid-19 vaccines – “either through the mechanisms provided for in national legislation or even within the World Trade Organisation (WTO)” –, the creation of conditions that allow that more countries can produce immunizers, and the universalization of access to medicines, supplies, software and treatment equipment for this disease. The waiver of intellectual property rights on medical products for Covid-19 is one of the actions that PSI supports in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The signatories of the manifesto also request that governments and agencies guarantee a financial support for workers, family businesses and families surviving in the informal economy that have lost their income due to the global health crisis, and that they implement an investment plan to recover the millions of jobs lost or at risk.

Download the manifesto and list of signatories below: