Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo is among 140 current and former world leaders calling for “a people’s vaccine” against the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The call is contained in a petition they signed on Thursday in which they are urging all governments to push for a free COVID-19 vaccine for all when developed.
The petition was initiated by the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating the HIV/AIDS virus.
Obasanjo, who led Nigeria as a civilian Head of State between 1999 and 2007, is a member of the Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation.
In the petition, the leaders are demanding that when a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, it should be made available free of charge to all.
President of South Africa and Chairman of the African Union, Cyril Ramaphosa; his Senegalese and Ghanaian counterparts, Macky Sall and Nana Akufo-Addo, respectively, are among the signatories.
According to UNAIDS, the demand is the most ambitious position yet by world leaders “on what has become the most urgent quest in modern science”.
The petition came ahead of a virtual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the world’s highest health policy making body comprising health ministers from UN member states, holding on May 18.
“We are calling on Health Ministers at the World Health Assembly to rally behind a people’s vaccine against this disease urgently.
“Governments and international partners must unite around a global guarantee which ensures that, when a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it is produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge.
“The same applies for all treatments, diagnostics, and other technologies for COVID-19,” they said.
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