The COVID-19 pandemic has already deepened global inequality; now the vaccines are set to make the situation even worse.
The world’s wealthiest countries are moving as fast as they can to inoculate their citizens with vaccines they have bought directly from the producers. But poorer countries, which cannot afford to do that, are having to wait for a World Health Organization body called COVAX to provide them with vaccines.
Why We Wrote This
We will be safe anywhere when we are safe everywhere. That pandemic truism is a reminder that we are all in this together and we will only get out of it together.
#1135 of 1327 articles from the Special Report:
Coronavirus in Canada
Karina Gould, minister of international development, holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
MONTREAL The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is highlighting the disconnect between the way Canadians see their role in the world and reality, according to international affairs experts.
Ottawa is facing pressure to help poorer countries access COVID-19 vaccines, but it is also being pulled internally by provinces demanding their citizens be vaccinated as quickly as possible.
The federal government says it will donate hundreds of millions of dollars to help developing countries vaccinate their citizens. But federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand has said Canada will do whatever it takes’’ to get more vaccine delivered to the country sooner including, she said, by upping the price it is willing to pay.
But as Ottawa faces pressure to help poorer countries access COVID-19 vaccines, it is also being pulled internally by provinces demanding their citizens be vaccinated as quickly as possible.
The federal government says it will donate hundreds of millions of dollars to help developing countries vaccinate their citizens. But federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand has said Canada will do whatever it takes to get more vaccine delivered to the country sooner including, she said, by upping the price it is willing to pay.
David Hornsby, professor of international affairs at Carleton University, said the pandemic has shed light on an inward-looking trend that has been developing in the country for decades.
MONTREAL - The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is highlighting the disconnect between the way Canadians see their role in the world and reality, according to inter