Actress Richa Chadha joins campaign to boost vaccination around the world

Actress Richa Chadha has joined the global People’s Vaccine movement which is calling on pharmaceutical companies to suspend patents on COVID-19 vaccines and boost vaccination all over the world.

Only about 2% of the COVID-19 vaccines produced so far have reached low-income countries, some of which have seen high numbers of deaths, while the rich countries have hoarded 87% of the lot.

The movement is backed by personalities such as Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Malala Yousafzai, Gordon Brown, Ratan Tata, George Clooney, Stephen Fry, Annie Lennox, Trevor Noah, Richard Branson, Forest Whitaker, Prof Muhammad Yunus and Mark Ruffalo.

So far, more than 1.3 million people have also signed a petition against the discriminatory distribution of the vaccines around the world.

Defending the interests of poor countries, Chadha said, “I am in support of the People’s Vaccine movement because I feel charging money for vaccines will deter many and make the vaccine less accessible.”

Chadha said it is important to vaccinate the majority of the world's population, irrespective of where they live, to protect everyone from COVID-19. “Or else, the virus will keep travelling, mutating and rendering existing vaccines irrelevant," she pointed out. "It is not possible to stop international travel altogether.”

The versatile actress believes suspending patents is the first step in this regard. “Through this petition, we need to build and maintain public pressure for the change to occur. For this, I urge you all to sign it because this is a change that can positively impact the lives of millions of Indians,” she said, adding, “Make no mistake, we're all in this together.”