8 Big Foundations Call on Wealthy Countries to Spread Vaccines to Poor Nations

Wealthy countries should stop “hoarding” Covid vaccines and lift travel restrictions put in place in response to the Omicron variant, which hit poor nations hardest, a group of eight foundation leaders wrote in a statement issued Wednesday.

Leaders of the Archewell, Children’s Investment Fund, Conrad N. Hilton, Ford, Mo Ibrahim, Open Society, and Rockefeller foundations and the Kagiso Trust called on the members of the G7 forum of wealthy nations to waive intellectual property rights on vaccines and to share the technology needed to manufacture large quantities of doses so supplies can easily get to the unvaccinated across the globe.

“The longer the world takes to deliver vaccine equity, the more we allow Covid-19 to mutate and become more dangerous,” the foundation leaders wrote. “This new variant demonstrates that vaccine nationalism is a shortsighted approach that is self-defeating and puts us all at risk.”

The foundation leaders are members of the Global Alliance of Foundations, which was formed in October to push for the equitable delivery of vaccines and Covid treatments and to pressure wealthy nations to use $100 billion in emergency World Bank funds to respond to the pandemic. When they announced their formation in October, 15 grant makers were involved, including the Gates, Hewlett, and MasterCard foundations. (The Hewlett Foundation is a financial supporter of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.)

Together, the grant makers had committed more than $3 billion to responding to Covid, the overwhelming majority of it coming from Gates and Rockefeller.

Tuesday’s statement noted that not enough progress was being made to meet the World Health Organization’s goal of vaccinating 40 percent of the world’s population by the end of the year. Only 7 percent of the population of Africa has received a vaccination, and more than 5 million people globally have died from Covid, according to the statement.