Nobel Laureates, Ex-Heads of State Push Biden to Fund Global Covid Fight

More than a dozen Nobel laureates and former heads of state urged U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday to help “lead the world out of the pandemic” by supporting a bold patent waiver and committing at least $5 billion to the global fight against Covid-19, which has ravaged poor nations.

In a letter to the White House sent ahead of Thursday’s global coronavirus summit—an event co-hosted by the U.S.—13 Nobel Prize winners and ex-world leaders warned that “billions of people are being ignored as many parts of the rich world turn away from them,” leaving them without adequate protections against “this cruel, deadly, and debilitating disease.”

“While people in the United States have had access to vaccines for more than a year, and Covid-19 testing and treatments are widely available, countries across the Global South continue to be devastated,” the letter states. “Almost 3 billion people remain entirely unvaccinated. The Covid-19 death toll is estimated to be four times higher in lower-income countries than in rich countries.”

“We specifically urge your government to appropriate the minimum $5 billion that is needed immediately for the international response,” the letter continues. “We recognize that the U.S. stepping up its commitment is vital to incentivizing pledges from other nations. We underline that global financing is absolutely mission-critical, alongside a truly comprehensive intellectual property waiver which you have supported at the World Trade Organization, and the transfer of technologies through the World Health Organization.”

With signatories including former Malawi President Joyce Banda, former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman, the letter was sent as Republicans in the U.S. Congress continue to stonewall both domestic and international coronavirus aid.

To overcome GOP obstruction, Democratic congressional leaders originally aimed to tie a Covid-19 aid package to a bill containing roughly $40 billion in military assistance for Ukraine—but Senate Republicans signaled they would oppose advancing the measures simultaneously. In a bipartisan Covid-19 funding deal reached last month, senators completely removed money to fight the pandemic outside of the U.S.

The White House has called on Congress to approve around $22 billion in domestic Covid-19 funding and $5 billion in global aid.

“Don’t tell us we can’t afford $5,000,000,000 in global Covid aid when the government is about to hand Jeff Bezos $10,000,000,000 to fly to space,” the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen wrote on Twitter.

The new letter declares that “the lack of funding endangers the lives of people in the U.S. and around the world and risks the emergence of new and more deadly virus variants that will prolong the pandemic.”

The letter, which was coordinated by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, also criticizes the U.S. for falling well short of its coronavirus vaccine donation promises.

“We appeal to the U.S. government to promptly approve at least $5 billion for the international effort, so that the critical work of containing the global pandemic can continue. Lives and livelihoods depend on it,” the letter reads.

Originally published at Commondreams.org, written by Jake Johnson.