Winnie Byanyima: The world needs a COVID-19 plan

A unified, global plan is needed to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, with buy-in from political leadership, said Winnie Byanyima, executive director at UNAIDS.

“It is just a handful of rich people deciding for the world whose life will be saved and whose won't be saved,” she said during a Devex event held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly Thursday.

While there have been efforts at international coordination, such as COVAX, it has failed to meet its targets and left the world in deep vaccine inequity, she said.

"It is too little and it doesn't address the real problem,” she said.

The problem, she said, is that pharmaceutical companies have too much power, and political leaders are not holding these companies accountable — even though large quantities of taxpayer funds were invested in the development of vaccines. Companies need to share their know-how regarding the production of vaccines by licensing more producers through the use of the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool.

“The governments of rich countries have allowed a handful of pharmaceutical companies to decide how much is produced, who is allowed to buy, and at what price,” she said. “They've decided to maximize profits and to let people die. And the governments of the rich countries are not reining them in.”

In response to the argument made by some pharmaceutical companies that many countries lack the capacity to quickly scale up production and acquire technology such as those needed for the messenger RNA vaccines, she said it was racist and patronizing.

The World Health Organization has set up the first “technology transfer hub” for the production of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa. Pfizer and BioNTech signed an agreement for their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to be partially manufactured in South Africa.

Pricing on vaccines also needs to be more transparent, she said, adding that with increased production through expanded licensing, prices will reduce.

Countries also need more fiscal space to respond to the crisis. The portion of the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights destined for African nations is just enough to help many countries manage their debt situation, but insufficient for them to manage the economic problems caused by the pandemic, she said, adding that countries also need a restructuring and cancellation of debt, along with more grants.

She added that countries sitting on stockpiles of excess doses that could expire soon should immediately donate them.

“It's very immoral what’s going on,” she said.