TOI runs full-page ad on the immorality of 'vaccine rationing' as part of global initiative

The Delhi edition of the Times of India ran a full page advertisement today on the immorality of "vaccine rationing".

The ad, issued by an organisation called Aids Healthcare Foundation on page 7 of the national daily, said, “If the immorality of vaccine rationing doesn’t bother you, the grave danger that it poses to the world should. Join the movement.” The campaign’s website was mentioned at the bottom of the page.

The campaign is run by a Los Angeles-based global nonprofit organisation called Aids Healthcare Foundation. According to its website, it is the "largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the world". It also lobbied for lower drug prices in the United States and in favour of Proposition 10 in California.

VOW, or "vaccinate our world", is their global initiative to provide equal access to Covid vaccines, citing the fact that "87 percent" of vaccines administered globally have gone to upper-middle income countries while low-income countries received "0.2 percent".

"...wealthy nations promised at the onset of the pandemic to ensure ample vaccines for the entire world, but as evidenced by the hoarding of enough vaccines to inoculate their populations as many as five times over, it's clear we need another solution," the campaign said. "It is unacceptable that many countries will be waiting until 2023 to get vaccines."

As part of the initiative, the foundation said it would "roll out newspaper ads in support of the global campaign" in major dailies in at least eight places: India, Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine, Nigeria, Kenya, the European Union, and South Africa. In India, the news outlet listed for ads are the Times of India and Mint while the ads in the European Union will run in the Guardian and the Observer.

The Times of India website had a press release on the VOW initiative, including the tenets under the initiative's call to action. This includes the global Covid vaccination effort securing $100 billion from G20 countries; companies and governments waiving and suspending of Covid vaccine patents during the pandemic; and producing and providing seven billion vaccine doses worldwide within a year.