Vaccine inequity affects us all - as long as the majority of the world remains unvaccinated new variants will continue to develop, bringing distress and disruption in their wake.

When populations aren't vaccinated, it means that the virus has more chances to change, leading to mutations like those we have seen already.

The UK is aiming to vaccinate the entire population 3 times by January, while only 4% of Malawians have had a single dose. 

The UK has blocked calls to waive intellectual property laws applying to the vaccines- meaning pharmaceutical companies make astronomical profits while people are not safe. If successful, the TRIPS waiver would allow vaccines to be produced much more widely and cheaply.

The UK has failed to deliver on promises to donate vaccines to the COVAX scheme, whilst wasting hundreds of thousands of doses allowed to go past their use by date.

We are calling on the UK government to:

• Support the TRIPS waiver- waiving intellectual property laws and allowing COVID-19 vaccines to be produced widely and cheaply
• Donate vaccine doses to the COVAX scheme
• Prioritise equitable vaccine access

No-one is safe until everyone is safe.