“We must demand equal access to future vaccines”

06/30/20 • 14 min

As the global race to find a vaccine for Covid-19 continues, the question of how it will eventually be supplied and distributed is now under the spotlight. Billions of euro have been donated by governments and philanthropic organisations to pharmaceutical companies for research and development of vital Covid-19 vaccines. However, in most cases, few if any conditions for access or affordability have been included as a precondition to any of this funding. In today’s episode we hear from Kate Elder, Senior Vaccines Policy Advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières Access. MSF is calling for authorities to ensure any future vaccines are sold at cost and are universally accessible to all.

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Lifting the lockdown: What can I do in Phase 3?

Ireland is approaching Phase 3 of the Roadmap for Reopening Business and Society. In this episode, Conor Pope talks us through some of the changes that will be coming into place as the country continues to ease lockdown restrictions.

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“Aid is politics” - lockdown in Uganda with Sally Hayden

In today’s episode, we hear from Irish Times journalist Sally Hayden, who has been living in lockdown in Northern Uganda for the past three months. In March, during the onset of the pandemic, Hayden travelled across the border from Rwanda into Gulu, a city at the epicentre of a two decade long civil war which ended in 2006. Hayden speaks to Deirdre Veldon about the impact of lockdown restrictions on the people of Gulu, in a country with no social protections and where aid is politics.