Read the letter and see the full list of signatories here.

On April 14, the People’s Vaccine Alliance sent a letter to The White House and to the US Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, signed by former Heads of State and Government and Nobel Laureates who expressed “[grave] concern by the very slow progress in scaling up global COVID-19 vaccine access and inoculation in low- and middle-income countries.”

The letter calls for urgency from the Biden Administration to “put the collective right to safety for all ahead of the commercial monopolies of the few.” This urgent action entails supporting temporary waiver of World Trade Organization (WTO) intellectual property rules during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring vaccine know-how and technology is openly shared through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool. Further, these key actions “should be accompanied by coordinated global investment in research, development, and manufacturing capacity to tackle this pandemic and prepare us for future ones, as part of a more robust international health architecture.”

The letter was launched in Financial Times and has seem an incredible amount of support and commentary. In an opinion piece in USA Today (and in El Pais in Spanish), President Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, notes the “industrious role of the intellectual property system”, but shows why waiving COVID-19 monopolies is necessary alongside other asks. President Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, in The Times, called on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to suspend vaccine patents to end the pandemic.

175 former heads of state and government and Nobel Laureates from across the globe signed the letter.

On April 8 2020 Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 held it’s first online meeting. Since then we’ve had over 700 people participate in our campaign. We’ve don’e actions all over the world, had some pretty special folks stop by, and kept our eyes on the goal of achieving safe, effective, affordable vaccines for everyone across the globe. We asked a few of our participants to share some reflections of their time with Free the Vaccine over the past year, and here’s what they had to give…

Bringing together her art and her activism

Hope and purpose through Free the Vaccine

A few words from our wise counselors…

Members of the Free the Vaccine advisory group shared a few words too!

The question I’m asked with increasing frequency by journalists, historians, archivists and activists is, “Are there any similarities between HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, and are you aware of any activism surrounding this current pandemic?” I have a lot to say about the subject, and one of them is to brag about the fantastic global work being done by every one of you! Thank you for your amazing work this year, and for giving me such a clear direction to point them in. –Avram Finkelstein

Bonus reel!

Contact Tracing: Ten Quarantine Love Stories Performed Live on Zoom One Night Only

About this Event

Theater of Change Presents

Contact Tracing: Ten Quarantine Love Stories

Contact Tracing tells ten heartwarming tales that delve into the indomitable human spirit, comradery and love in the face of the pandemic’s chaotic times.

Performed Live on Zoom One Night Only

April 19th, 2021 | 5:30PM PST

Zoom Link will be sent to all who purchase tickets via the Eventbrite portal.

• 50% of the proceeds will go to Free The Vaccine, a global campaign launched by Universities Allied for Essential Medicines and the Center for Artistic Activism to ensure that taxpayer funded coronavirus vaccines are sustainably priced, available to all, and free at the point of delivery.

• 50% of the proceeds will go to the hard-working actors in our cast, many of whom are professionals who have had little or no opportunity to work since the beginning of the pandemic.

Written by Award Winning Screenwriter Taylor Anthony Hopkins (Creative World Awards, Screencraft Awards)

Featuring Actors Jojo Nwoko (NCIS: Los Angeles, The Kids Are Alright), Tamika Simpkins (The Wire, Grace and Frankie, Dispatches from Elsewhere)

Cast: (Listed Alphabetically) Rahne Avant | Alexander Bewkes | Sheree Grate | Riley Holland | Gavin Johnson | Jojo Nwoko | Vip Paruthi | Morgan Ramey | Tamika Simpkins | Preston Ward | Andrew Wofford

The Free The Vaccine Exhibit – Creativity vs. COVID : Ending The Pandemic for Good – is now being hosted by its first in-person venue at the University of Maine. The intermedia program began hosting the virtual exhibit in February, which built community interest in advance of the March 1 opening of the physical exhibition. “The Intermedia program at the University of Maine is honored to be the first host institution for this exhibition; as we watch the rollout of the vaccine proceed and recognize how vital it is to ourselves and communities across the globe.”  said Dr. Susan Smith, Director of Intermedia MFA Program at the University of Maine.

Creativity vs. COVID is currently set up in the exhibit space, where they have video pieces from the exhibit projected on the wall, in addition to the physical pieces displayed. They also have plans for an outdoor projection of a piece of the exhibit to happen later this month.

The exhibit has also elicited exciting engagement from the community at the University of Maine, who have added three new projects to the exhibit to date. These projects will join the exhibit, and travel with it to it’s next host venue. We are very excited to see the exhibit come to life physically for the very first time, and eagerly anticipate the future host venues of Creativity vs. COVID.

Big Pharma executives, in their pursuit of profits during a pandemic have had a great 2020, putting profits over people while the pandemic disproportionately affects some of the most vulnerable people among us. To this we say “Thank you Big Pharma for being so consistent in profitizing a pandemic and leading us further away from global vaccine equity!” See this on instagram.

On the anniversary of the WHO’s declaration of COVID-19 a pandemic, we called for a People’s Vaccine!

Standing in global solidarity, activists worldwide took to the streets on March 11 to decry vaccine apartheid and to demand global vaccine equity.

Boston

Supporters of the People’s Vaccine participated in a rally for global solidarity against vaccine apartheid in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is home to a heavy concentration of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Here, they make their demands in front of the Moderna offices.

Wealthy countries are vaccinating their populations at increasing rates, but some poorer nations may not have access to COVID-19 vaccines until 2023.

Cape Town &
Johannesburg

In Cape Town and Johannesburg, activists gathered at the head offices of Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to demand an end to patents and a People’s Vaccine.

To fix this inequity–this injustice–these publicly-funded vaccines should be a global public good, available to everyone, everywhere.

New York City

In New York City, activists protested at the headquarters of Pfizer, who has made billions on this pandemic.

Pharmaceutical companies must share their technology and know-how with the world & governments must agree to waive patent monopolies.

Philadelphia

Activists in the Philadelphia area visited the main Pfizer offices in the region to demand that the company use every possible means to make its vaccines available worldwide. 

To do this, companies can join the COVID Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and governments can support a proposal at the WTO to remove patent barriers (TRIPS waiver).

United
Kingdom

Across the UK, organizers called for a People’s Vaccine with demonstrations in London, including at the offices of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, and at the AstraZeneca offices in Cambridge.

But they don’t. Profit continues to take precedent over people, and vaccine inequity deepens, putting millions of lives at risk.

Washington
DC

In Washington, DC activists rallied in front of the offices of PhRMA, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical lobbies, to demand that pharmaceutical companies put people over profit and share their COVID-19 technology and know-how with the world.

This is why we continue our demand for a People’s Vaccine!

At the Global Rally for a People’s Vaccine Netty Prasetiyani, member of the House of Representatives of Indonesia, called our attention to the human right to health, guaranteed in international law and in the constitutions of many countries. Ms. Prasetiyani called on her government to prioritize public health and human lives by supporting the waiver of patent monopolies at the World Trade Organization to scale up production of vaccines globally.