It might seem strange to look at our own situation and compare it with that of other communities. But we are all invested in fighting the pandemic.
Crisis might make us selfish. We are living day to day with the restrictions that deprive us of: pints down the pub with our mates, attendance at football, rugby or cricket matches, meeting frriends in coffee bars, going to our workplaces and talking to a variety of colleagues about all kinds of experiences.
That has been taken away from us. For many that restricts them to staying at home in cramped surroundings with children to be educated and mouths to feed on reduced income. The other side of life is characterised by parents who live in houses with gardens and fast broadband for all the family enjoying a reasonable income.
Imagine the plight of those living in poverty in crowded cities around the world. Cities where the spread of diseases was already a recurring problem before Covid-19 hit. In the UK the vaccination programme has been a big success with millions receiving their first dose within a matter of weeks.
If we want to be confident about opening our borders post lockdown we have a duty to ensure that other nations have access to the vaccine. The pandemic has demonstrated that even a wealthy nation like the USA needs to address the inequality in its health services.
The huge number of deaths in America was preventable. If there had been a willingness to adopt earlry prevention measures like social distancing and the wearing of face masks, lives would have been saved. Private health insurance protects the well off from typical ailments, but does little to assist a co-ordinated programme of vaccination during a pandemic.
The pricing of the different vaccines allows pharma corporations to make huge profits out of this worldwide disaster. This is what the EU is paying:
Oxford/AstraZeneca: € 1.78 £ 1.61
Johnson & Johnson: £ 6.30 $ 8.50
Sanofi/GSK: € 7.56
Pfizer/BioNTech: €12.00
CureVac €10.00
Moderna: $18.00
Free market economics is not the best way to deal with a pandemic. Should private enterprise make huge profits from disasters? How can we ensure that drugs are available at affordable prices throughout the world when disaster strikes?
odespinner 