Civil society organisations warn against "unconscionable" plans to count donated Covid-19 vaccines to lower-income countries as ODA

The OECD DAC has failed to reach a decision on the pricing of Covid-19 vaccines for lower-income countries after being expected to do so at the end of January.

The DAC Reference Group, which is made up of made up of civil society organisation’s from around the world, is calling for the proposal to count donated excess Covid-19 vaccines as Official Development Assistance (ODA) to be scrapped following the failure to reach an agreement.

The DAC Reference Group said: “We are calling on all donors to completely abandon all plans to include these types of vaccine donations as ODA. These intentions were unconscionable – these vaccine doses were never purchased in the interest of development partners and should not be counted as such.

“It is time for OECD DAC members to do the right thing and ensure that the credibility of ODA is not undermined any further. Tapping into existing ODA budgets to pay for doses never originally intended for developing countries risks, in some cases, diverting funds away from other vital humanitarian and development programmes.”

The statement has been signed by 32 civil society organisations including Bond and its member organisations such as Oxfam, Save the Children and Action Aid.

Notes to editor

A copy of the statement can be found here.
Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international development. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 400 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
The DAC-CSO Reference Group facilitates and coordinates engagement with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD – DAC) by CSOs from around the world, and to carry CSO positions in these spaces with the ultimate goal of promoting more and more effective aid and development finance
For further information or interviews please contact Juliet Conway on 07990518334 or [email protected]