C40 Mayors Vaccine Equity Statement

Our mission is to overcome the climate emergency, but that will not be possible unless we first overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why today C40 mayors from across the world have again spoken out to support vaccine equity in our cities and around the world, and joined the call for fairer, faster, and more affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines, including a call – now backed by more than 100 countries – that Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) should urgently agree to waive relevant intellectual property obligations to accelerate the manufacture and distribution of vaccines in developing countries.

In many of our cities the threat from the COVID-19 virus is now receding, thanks to strong public health measures to eliminate the virus and accelerate widespread vaccination. But at the same time, new waves of suffering from the pandemic are rising across the globe – most seriously at present in our sister cities in India.

Our collective success in creating multiple, safe, and highly effective vaccines against this new virus is a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of our species. Yet now these vaccines exist, every newly bereaved family and hardship felt by those around the world represents a failure of our shared humanity. With every day that passes, the lack of access to vaccines is making the impact of the pandemic increasingly inequitable and undermining our collective health.

Our member cities in the USA and Europe generally now have sufficient vaccines for our populations, but sister cities elsewhere have only been able to access vaccines for a small fraction of their populations. As we heard when we met recently with World Health Organization Director-General, Tedros Adhanom, ensuring that the most vulnerable in every country have access to a free vaccine is essential to ending the pandemic. WTO action is a vital and necessary step to bringing an end to this pandemic. It must be combined with efforts to facilitate the transfer of vaccine know-how and technology.

This affects all of us, and no one is safe from the impact of this pandemic until everyone has access to this life saving tool. C40 cities will continue to support each other, sharing advice and experience on effective public health approaches to stop transmission of the virus and achieve a fast and comprehensive vaccination of our residents.

Signed,

C40 Chair, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles

Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, Rotterdam

Mayor Steve Adler, Austin

Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Freetown

Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis, Athens

Governor Anies Baswedan, Jakarta

Mayor Joy Belmonte, Quezon City

Mayor LaToya Cantrell, New Orleans

Mayor Ada Colau, Barcelona

Mayor Jenny Durkan, Seattle

Mayor Soham El Wardini, Dakar