Muhammad Yunus, Desmond Tutu, Mikhail Gorbachev, Malala Yousafzai, Bono, Richard Branson, Lech Walesa, Jody Williams, Mahathir Mohamad, Lula, George Clooney, Sharon Stone, Forest Whitaker, Leymah Gbowee, Mary Robinson, Tawakkol Karman, Ratan Tata, Azim Premji, Shabana Azmi, Anne Hidalgo, Thomas Bach, Andrea Bocelli and other World Leaders Appeal To Declare Corona Vaccine A Global Common Good.
COVID-19 Vaccine Global Common Good: Appeal from 100 Influential Global Leaders
More than 100 influential global leaders including 18 Nobel Laureates, 32 former Chief of State and Governments, Political Leaders, Artistes, International NGOs and Institutions have signed a call initiated by Yunus Centre to declare COVID-19 Vaccines as a global common good.
The unified appeal is urging action from governments, foundations, philanthropists and social businesses to come forward to produce and/or distribute the vaccines all over the world for free. We invite all social, political, and health entities to re-affirm our collective responsibility for the protection of ALL vulnerable persons without any discrimination whatsoever.
The COVID-19 pandemic is clearly exposing the strength and weaknesses of healthcare systems in every country and highlights the obstacles and inequities in gaining access to healthcare. The effectiveness of the upcoming vaccination campaign will depend on its universality.
The signatories are pleading to all world leaders including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Director General of the World Health Organization, religious leaders, social and moral leaders, leaders of research laboratories and pharmaceutical companies and the media to join hands and ensure that in the case of a Covid-19 vaccine, we have a global consensus that it must be deployed as a global common good.
We invite everyone to join the pledge at VACCINECOMMONGOOD.ORG .
I hope your esteemed institution will do its best to spread this message.
LIST OF PERSONALITIES WHO SIGNED THE PLEDGE
NOBEL LAUREATES
1 Muhammad Yunus 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate
2 Máiread Maguire 1976 Nobel Peace Laureate
3 Professor Adolfo Perez Esquivel 1980 Nobel Peace Laureate
4 Lech Wałęsa 1983 Nobel Peace Laureate, Former President of Poland
5 Archbishop Desmond Tutu 1984 Nobel Peace Laureate
6 Mikhail Gorbachev 1990 Nobel Peace Laureate, President of the Soviet Union
7 Rigoberta Menchu 1992 Nobel Peace laureate
8 Edmond Henri Fischer 1992 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
9 Sir Richard J. Roberts 1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
10 José Ramos Horta 1996 Nobel Peace Laureate
11 Jody Williams 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate
12 Shirin Ebadi 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate
13 Elizabeth Blackburn 2009 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
14 Tawakkol Karman 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate
15 Leymah Gbowee 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate
16 Malala Yousafzai 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate
17 Kailash Satyarthi 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate
18 Nadia Murad Basee Taha 2018 Nobel Peace Laureate
19 Dr. Denis Mukwege 2018 Nobel Peace Laureate
FORMER PRESIDENTS
20 Emil Constantinescu President of Romania 1996-2000
21 Ameenah Gurib-Fakim President of Mauritius 2015-2018
22 Tarja Halonen President of Finland 2000-2012
23 Mladen Ivanic President of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2014-2018
24 Gjorge Ivanov President of North Macedonia 2009-2019
25 Ivo Josipovic President of Croatia 2010-2015
26 Aleksandr Kwasniewski President of Poland 1995-2005
27 Petru Lucinschi President of Moldova 1997-2001
28 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva President of Brazil 2003-2011
29 Rexhep Meidani President of Albania 1997-2002
30 Bujar Nishani President of Albania 2012-2017
31 Rosen Plevneliev President of Bulgaria 2012-2017
32 Romano Prodi President of EU Commission 1999-2004
and Italian Prime Minister of Italy 1996-1998, 2006-2008
33 Vicente Fox Quesada President of Mexico 2000-2006
34 Mary Robinson President of Ireland, 1990-97
35 Rosalia Arteaga Serrano President of Ecuador 1997
36 Petar Stoyanov President of Bulgaria 1997-2002
37 Vaira Vike-Freiberga President of Latvia 1999-2007
38 Filip Vujanovic President of Montenegro 2003-2018
FORMER PRIME MINISTERS
39 Shaukat Aziz Prime Minister of Pakistan 2004-2007
40 Marek Belka Prime Minister of Poland 2004-2005
41 Sali Berisha Prime Minister of Albania 2005-2013, President 1992-97
42 Gordon Brown Prime Minister of UK 2007-2010
43 Helen Clark Prime Minister of New Zealand 1999-2008
44 Mirko Cvetkovic Prime Minister of Serbia 2008-2012
45 Jan Fisher Prime Minister of the Czech Republic 2009-2010
46 Chiril Gaburici Prime Minister of Moldova 2015
47 Jadranka Kosor Prime Minister of Croatia 2009-2011
48 Yves Leterme Prime Minister of Belgium 2008, 2009-2011
49 Peter Medgyessy Prime Minister of Hungary 2002-2004
50 Mahathir Mohamad Prime Minister of Malaysia 1981-2003, 2018-2020
51 Djoomart Otorbaev Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan 2014-2015
52 Oscar Ribas Reig Prime Minister of Andorra 1982-84; 1990-94
53 Eka Tkeshelashvili Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia 2010-2012
ARTISTES & SOCIAL ACTIVISTS
54 Shabana Azmi Actor and Human Rights Activist
55 Andrea Bocelli Tenor, Singer-Songwriter
56 Bono Singer, Activist
57 Lily Cole Actress, Activist
58 George Clooney Actor, Human Rights Activist
59 Richard Curtis UN SDG Advocate, Founder, Project Everyone
60 Matt Damon Filmmaker & Co-founder Water.org & WaterEquity
61 Sharon Stone Actress, Human Rights Activist
62 Jimmy Wales Founder, Wikipedia
63 Forest Whitaker Actor, Founder, Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative
BUSINESS LEADERS
64 Sir Richard Branson Founder, Virgin Group
65 Emmanuel Faber Chief Executive Officer, Danone
66 Mo Ibrahim Philanthropist, Founder of Mo Ibrahim Foundation
67 Paul Polman Co-founder & Chair, IMAGINE, Former CEO, Unilever
68 Azim Premji Chairman, Wipro Limited
69 Narayana Murthy Co-Founder, Infosys
70 Ratan Tata Former Chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Group
POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS, LEADERS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, ACTIVISTS & ACADEMICS
71 Father Giulio Albanese Journalist and Writer
72 Abdulaziz Altwaijri Former Director General, ISESCO
73 Jean Baderschneider Chair of the Board of Directors, Global Fund to End Modern Slavery
74 Thomas Bach President, International Olympic Committee (IOC)
75 Luigino Bruni Professor, Economics, Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta (LUMSA)
76 Margaret Chan President, Boao Global Health Forum
77 James Chau International Broadcaster and Host of The China Current
78 Susan M. Elliott President and CEO, National Committee on American Foreign Policy
79 HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Chairman, King Faisal Foundation’s Center for Research and Islamic Studies
80 Father Enzo Fortunato Spokesperson of the Sacred Convent and Papal Basilica of Assisi
81 Father Mauro Gambetti Custodian of the Papal Basilica and Sacred Convent of Assisi
82 Ron Garan Former Astronaut
83 Nathalie de Gaulle Co-Founder & President NB-INOV
84 Ann Hidalgo Mayor of Paris
85 Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu Former Secretary General, OIC
86 Garry Jacobs CEO, President World Academy of Art and Sciences
87. David Jones, Co-Founder, One Young World, Founder, You&Mr. Jones
88 Adeeba Kamarulzaman President-elect, International AIDS Society
89 Mats Karlsson Vice President of the World Bank 1999-2002
90 Kerry Kennedy President, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
91 Vanessa Kerry Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Founder, Seed Global Health
92 Salman Khan Founder, Khan Academy
93 Guilherme Leal Co-Founder, Natura Cosmeticos, B Team Leader
94 Sharon Lewin Director, The Peter Doherty Institute of Infection & Immunity, University of Melbourne
95 Justin Yifu Lin Former Vice President of the World Bank
96 Raffaele Lomonaco Professor of Economics of the Pontifical Lateran University
97 Marina Mahathir Writer, Human Rights Activist
98 Alaa Murabit UN SDG Advocate, The Voice of Libyan Women
99 Rovshan Muradov Secretary General, Nizami Ganjavi International Center
100 Edward Ndopu UN SDG Advocate, Founder, Beyond Zero
101 Samia Nkrumah President of Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Centre
102 Elsa Papademetriou Former Vice President of the Hellenic Parliament
103 Jeffrey Sachs UN SDG Advocate, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University
104 Ismail Serageldin Co-Chair Nizami Ganjavi International Center
105 Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO
106 Gary White CEO & Co-founder, Water.org & WaterEquity
107 Nicola Zingaretti Chairman & Leader of the Italian Democratic Party