编者按：

新冠疫情仍在全球肆虐，疫苗是人类战胜疫情的关键所在。G20峰会开幕之际，跟大家分享福特基金会2021年10月6日宣布的一项特别举措。这一特别举措旨在推动新冠疫苗在全球，特别是发展中国家的可及性，解决阻碍平等获取新冠疫苗的结构性不平等问题。该举措支持开展相关的倡导工作，呼吁世界领导人在 G20 峰会之前进行紧急干预。

福特基金会的广泛承诺包括：1）在G20峰会之前为全球南方国家快速提供1600万美元赠款，以推动疫苗公平的工作；2）与查理兹塞隆非洲外展项目和娱乐业基金会合作，提高大众对疫苗犹豫危险性的认识；3）加入“人民疫苗联盟”，倡导所有人免费获得疫苗。

基金会的赠款将致力于支持以下工作：

推动结构性改变，确保边缘群体公平地获得疫苗，包括克服疫苗犹豫和消除歧视。

提升意识，认识到全球知识产权政策是一项不公平的政策，因为其严重阻碍疫苗和其他关键药物的广泛生产；倡导为了实现疫苗公平，放弃世界贸易组织TRIPS 协议。

重新思考如何为疫苗等全球公共产品提供资金，从富裕国家控制世界绝大多数药品供应的慈善模式开始转变。

“大流行揭示了全球系统深层的结构性不平等，在我们做出持久、有意义的改变之前，人们将继续为此付出无谓地牺牲。无所作为不是一种选择”，福特基金会会长吕德伦说。“我们很自豪能加入其他全球资助者，揭示导致危机的根源，并为在全世界推动疫苗公平最前沿工作的机构提供他们所需的关键资金。”
福特基金会地区主任兼北京代表处首席代表高倩倩是这一新举措的总协调人，她希望基金会能够成为中国与全球其他致力于推动疫苗公平的参与者之间的桥梁，共同努力应对仍然持续存在的新冠疫情。

英文原文如下：

NEW YORK (Wednesday, October 6, 2021) – Today, the Ford Foundation announced a special initiative to further global vaccine access and tackle the structural inequities that continue to hinder equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in the Global South. This initiative will support the critical work of advocacy organizations calling for urgent interventions by world leaders ahead of the G20 Summit.

Ford’s wide range of commitments include signing onto a global effort to advocate for equal and fair access to vaccines through the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coordinated advocacy campaign to combat vaccine hesitancy and support vaccine access with the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project and the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and $16 million in rapid response grants to be deployed across the Global South to strengthen vaccine equity.

“The pandemic has uncovered deep structural inequities in our global systems, and people will continue to needlessly die of this virus until we make lasting, meaningful change. Inaction is not an option,” said Ford Foundation president Darren Walker. “We are proud to join other global funders to shine a light on the systems that are at the root of this crisis, and to make these critical investments in organizations working on the front lines of vaccine equity in the parts of the world that need it most.”

“We have the tools to ensure everyone is protected from COVID-19, but across the world we’re seeing that the most vulnerable people are continuing to suffer. Overcoming this crisis means removing the barriers standing between people and the vital facts and services they need to keep themselves and their communities safe,” said Charlize Theron. “Education is the first step to ending vaccine hesitancy, and CTAOP and I are thrilled to partner with the Ford Foundation to raise awareness around this issue and provide much needed support to the groups, particularly at the community level, who are working to end this pandemic.”

Walker and the Ford Foundation have also signed onto the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a growing movement of health and humanitarian organizations, past and present world leaders, health experts, faith leaders and economists that are advocating for safe and effective vaccines to be produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge.

Ford’s additional $16 million in grantmaking aims to bolster international, regional, and local organizations working toward immediate interventions and advocacy to achieve a global vaccination rate of 70 percent within the next 12 months, and toward long-term thinking to reimagine global systems of intellectual property and financing to ensure that the world responds more equitably to future global pandemics.

These investments will augment the work of nonprofits in the Global South on the frontlines of international vaccine equity. It includes funding for grantees such as the Africa CDC, Third World Network, Oxfam America for work in Latin America and in the Middle East and North Africa, Frontline AIDS for People’s Vaccine Alliance, and Equal International to support global public investment that are working toward equitable vaccine distribution around the world, and on the frontlines of research and advocacy. These funds will also support civil society and historically marginalized groups to monitor vaccine distribution for equity and inclusion, overcome vaccine hesitancy, and advocate for structural change.

Ford’s funding will focus on supporting advocacy in three main issue areas:

Structural changes to ensure equitable vaccine distribution for marginalized groups, including overcoming vaccine hesitancy and fighting discrimination.

Raising awareness on the inequities of global intellectual property policies that prevent widespread production of vaccines and other critical medicines, and advocating for a waiver to the World Trade Organization TRIPS Agreement.

Rethinking how global public goods like vaccines are financed, shifting from a charity model where wealthy nations control the vast majority of the world’s medicines supply.

“Africa CDC has always called for respectful and action-oriented partnerships and are delighted that Ford Foundation has heeded to its call at a critical time, when Africa CDC needs all the support it can get, not only to deliver on its mandate and successfully implement the adapted joint continental strategy on COVID-19 response but also to work towards ending vaccine inequity on the continent. Only by leveraging each other's strengths and working together towards a common goal can we put an end to this pandemic,” said Dr Ahmed Ogwell OUMA, Africa CDC Deputy Director.

“The urgency to vaccinate everyone, particularly in vulnerable communities, cannot be underestimated. Multilateral solutions are a vital part of solving global challenges like vaccine access,” said Chris Silbermann, chair of the Entertainment Industry Foundation Board. “Now is the time to come together, raise our voices and take action. That’s why The Entertainment Industry Foundation is proud to join the Ford Foundation in this philanthropic commitment to support the important work of organizations at the forefront of the fight for vaccine equity.

"The global challenges we face in securing the health of people and our planet as well as addressing the alarming increase in inequality require a bold new approach to international public financing and cooperation. Equal International has for the past 5 years been supporting the co-creation of an alternative approach to global public investment where all contribute, all benefit and all decide. We are thrilled to partner with the Ford Foundation to accelerate the structural changes needed to tackle the enormous challenges that affect us all,” said Anton Ofield-Kerr, Director of Equal International.

“Vaccine apartheid is killing thousands daily. Pharmaceutical monopolies and the failure to share successful vaccine recipes with manufacturers all over the world means billions are facing this killer disease unprotected. This is particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized communities among us. The world needs a People’s Vaccine, not a profit vaccine,”’ said Max Lawson, Chair of the Peoples Vaccine Alliance. We are proud that the Ford Foundation is joining us all in the fight against this appalling vaccine inequality.”

“Global problems require global solidarity to find and implement effective solutions,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, on behalf of the People’s Vaccine Alliance. “We commend the Ford Foundation for funding advocacy efforts to increase access to vaccines in the global South so that we can achieve our common goal of vaccine equity. In addition, I am so delighted that Ford Foundation President Darren Walker is joining over 180 eminent world leaders and experts advocating for a People’s Vaccine that is available to everyone everywhere.”
The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project advances and invests in the health, education, safety, and community support of young people living in Southern Africa to create a more equitable future for all.  To learn more, visit

www.charlizeafricaoutreach.org 

The People’s Vaccine Alliance is a coalition of organisations and activists united under a common aim of campaigning for a ‘people’s vaccine’ for COVID-19. This would be based on shared knowledge and freely available to everyone everywhere – a global common good. To learn more, visit https://peoplesvaccine.org/