Progressive International Summit for Vaccine Internationalism – 18 to 21 June

Progressive International Summit for Vaccine Internationalism

Friday 18 June – Public Plenary – Register below
9:00 Mexico City | 10:00 New York City | 15:00 London | 17:00 Nairobi | 19:30 New Delhi | 22:00 Hanoi

Saturday 19 June, Sunday 20 June – Private Meetings

Monday 21 June – Closing Press Conference
10:00 Mexico City | 11:00 New York City | 16:00 London | 18:00 Nairobi | 20:30 New Delhi | 22:00 Hanoi

Confirmed attendees include:

Dr. Regla Angulo Pardo – Vice Minister of Public Health, Cuba
Rogelio Mayta – Foreign Minister, Bolivia
Carla Vizzotti – Health Minister, Argentina
Jorge Arreaza – Foreign Minister, Venezuela
K. K. Shailaja – Minister of Legislative Assembly, Kerala state, India
Gustavo Petro – Senator, Colombia
Anyang’ Nyong’o – Governor, Kisumu county, Kenya
Giorgio Jackson – Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chile
Andres Arauz – Former Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent, Ecuador
Carina Vance – Former Health Minister, Ecuador
Jeremy Corbyn – Member of Parliament and former leader of UK Labour Party, UK
Niki Ashton – Member of Parliament, Canada
Dong Huy Cuong – Secretary General, the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation, Vietnam
Celso Amorim – Former Foreign Minister, Brazil
Yanis Varoufakis – Member of Parliament and former Finance Minister, Greece
Sacha Llorenti – Executive Secretary of ALBA – TCP, Bolivia
Helen Yaffe – Lecturer at University of Glasgow (PI Collective)
Burcu Kilic – Director, Access to Medicines at Public Citizen (PI Collective)
Achal Prabhala – Coordinator of the AccessIBSA project (PI Collective)

To register visit here.

Information from the summit organisers

From 18 to 21 June 2021, the Progressive International (PI) will host a virtual summit of government ministers, opposition leaders, vaccine manufacturers, healthcare workers and public policymakers to speed up the production, distribution, and delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to the world.

The pandemic has now entered its deadliest phase, with Indian variant B.1.617.2 spreading fast just as governments in poor- and middle-income countries confront severe shortages of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.

Governments in rich countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, by contrast, have continued to advance ‘vaccine nationalism,’ hoarding vaccines, technology, and intellectual property even as the pandemic worsens across the world.

The attendees of the Summit for Vaccine Internationalism will respond to the escalating crisis by developing a truly global plan to guarantee open access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, to construct and expand production facilities across the globe, and to deliver a framework for equitable distribution.

Summit coordinator and Progressive International cabinet member Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla said:

“We have the capacity to end this pandemic, producing and distributing Covid-19 vaccines for all. And yet the end is nowhere in sight. A nexus of Big Pharma and Global North governments is standing in the way.

“As long as the virus spreads, it can mutate and move. Ending the pandemic is not a question of charity. It is a question of survival. The longer we wait, the more we are at risk: billions of lives, North and South, vaccinated and unvaccinated.

“That is why we are convening ministers, parliamentarians, government officials, healthcare workers and vaccine manufacturers in an emergency Summit for Vaccine Internationalism — with the Global South leading the way.

“Our goal is simple: to end the pandemic as quickly as possible by securing Covid-19 vaccines for all.”

For further information visit here.