Climate activist Greta Thunberg this week criticized rich countries for buying the majority of the world’s Covid-19 vaccine doses and allowing poorer countries to go without doses, The Guardian reports.
Thunberg, whose charitable foundation recently donated more than $100,000 to the World Health Organization Foundation to help buy vaccines for poor countries, said in a statement that “the international community must do more to address the tragedy that is vaccine inequity. We have the means at our disposal to correct the great imbalance that exists around the world today in the fight against Covid-19.”
“Just as with the climate crisis, we must help those who are the most vulnerable first. That is why I am supporting WHO, Gavi and all involved in the COVAX initiative, which I believe offers the best path forward to ensure true vaccine equity and a way out of the pandemic,” she added.
During a press conference for the WHO on Monday, Thunberg said even though the vaccines were created in “record time,” as many as one-in-four people in high-income nations have been vaccinated, while just one in 500 residents of countries that are middle- or lower-income.
“It is completely unethical that high-income countries are now vaccinating young and healthy people if that happens at the expense of people in risk groups and on the frontlines in low- and middle-income countries,” she said.
“This is a moral test, we talk today about showing solidarity and yet vaccine nationalism is what is running vaccine distribution,” she added.
“The international community, governments and vaccine developers must step up their game and address the tragedy that is vaccine inequity,” Thunberg continued. “Just with the climate crisis, those who are the most vulnerable need to be prioritized and global problems require global solutions.”
She said that people must “step up for one another.”
“We young people may be the ones who are least affected … by the virus in a direct way,” Thunberg said. “Of course, many young people fail to draw that connection.”
“Not all, but some,” she added.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that new COVID-19 cases worldwide have continued to rise for the eighth week in a row, while the number of deaths from the virus have risen for the fifth week in a row.
He also noted that adults age 25 to 59 have seen infection numbers “increasing at an alarming rate, possibly as a result of highly contagious variants and increased social mixing among younger adults.”
Tedros also praised Thunberg for speaking out about the issue.
“Greta Thunberg has inspired millions of people worldwide to take action to address the climate crisis, and her strong support of vaccine equity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic yet again demonstrates her commitment to making our world a healthier, safer and fairer place for all people,” he said.
“I urge the global community to follow Greta’s example and do what they can, in support of COVAX, to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from this pandemic.”
Source: Newmax
