COVID-19 Action for access

We call for no patents or profiteering on drugs, tests, or vaccines used for the COVID-19 pandemic.

MSF seeks to ensure that the medical tools urgently needed to respond to COVID-19 are accessible, affordable, and available to all countries equally.

All concerned stakeholders—including governments, pharmaceutical corporations, philanthropic organisations and research organisations developing treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines—should take the necessary measures to:

• Ensure the rapid and ample production of medical tools, once approved, and allocate supply based on equity and need.
• Prevent patents and monopolies from limiting production and affordable access.
• Prioritise the availability of the medical tools for protection and treatment of frontline healthcare workers.
• Improve transparency and coordination among governments and other buyers to monitor and mitigate supply chain risks.

We ask governments to prepare to suspend and override patents and take other measures, such as price controls, to ensure availability, reduce prices and save more lives; and to work in solidarity to meet not only their domestic needs but also to support other countries to get access to effective medicines, diagnostics, and vaccines.

We are also supporting MSF’s operational needs and priorities as we open new projects in response to COVID-19 and adapt existing ones to help cope if cases are identified. We are very concerned on how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect people in countries with already fragile health systems.