Pfizer, Moderna, AZ and other COVID vaccine companies face urgent calls to ramp up access around the world

As the COVID-19 vaccination gap widens between rich countries and poor countries, the world's leading vaccine makers are once again under pressure to do more to bridge the divide.

In a new report (PDF), Amnesty International says COVID-19 vaccine makers AstraZeneca, BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer have refused to waive intellectual property rights on their shots. By doing so, the companies are "fueling an unprecedented human rights crisis," the group alleges.