Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sign open letter calling for vaccine equity

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have doubled down on their push for global vaccine equity, signing an open letter which urges wealthy world leaders to “act with international solidarity”.

The strongly-worded letter was published on Friday 11 March by the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), marking two years since the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic.

It was signed by more than 100 world leaders, scientists, faith leaders and humanitarians including former UK prime minister Gordon Brown and actor Charlize Theron.

“Sadly, despite what some leaders in wealthy countries would like us to believe, the pandemic is not over,” the letter said.

“But it is within our grasp to end it and ensure everyone is protected. That requires giving everyone, everywhere access to safe and effective vaccines and other life-saving Covid-19 technologies.”

The PVA estimated that 20 million deaths from Covid-19 in the past year could have been “avoidable” had vaccine equity been achieved.

It singled out the UK, EU and Switzerland for continuing to block a waiver which would lift intellectual property rights on vaccine patents and allow for greater distribution of vaccines.

It also called on the world’s wealthiest countries to “commit to sharing the economic burden required to fund the next stages of vaccines, treatments, testing, and the medical oxygen and PPE needed by healthcare workers around the world”.

“The current approach is immoral, entirely self-defeating and also an ethical, economic and epidemiological failure,” the PVA said.

“The virus is mutating all the time. Existing vaccines are less effective against the Omicron variant, and although vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and hospitalisation, there is no guarantee this will continue in the face of future variants.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been vocal about the importance of vaccine equity throughout the pandemic.

During an appearance at the Global Citizen Live concert in New York City in September 2021, Harry said he had learned from experts that many countries are ready to produce vaccines at home “yet they aren’t allowed to because ultra-wealthy pharmaceutical companies are not sharing the recipes to make them”.

He said these countries have the “means, the ability and the workers” to manufacture vaccines, but are still waiting for vaccine intellectual property rights to be waived.

Meghan told the crowd that “every single person on this planet has a fundamental right to get this vaccine”.

“While in this country and many others you can go almost anywhere and get vaccinated, billions around the world cannot.”