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Why Rush To Buy Vaccines In The Global South? Covid-19 Is Mainly A First World Virus Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake In recent weeks, global media and news channels like Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN and India’s NDTV have been marketing vaccines to the world with images of Prime Ministers, Vice President elects, and a Crown Prince in the Middle East taking a jab live on television– seemingly to encourage Covid-19 vaccine skeptics. Highly advertised vaccines are being produced and rolled out at ‘warped speed’ by powerful pharmaceutical and bio-technology companies headquartered in Euro-America although their efficacy for the new British and South African variants of the virus, or how long their immunity lasts is not clear. These vaccines have been authorized for ‘emergency use ‘in Europe and North America due to the spike in Covid-19 winter flu cases in the northern hemisphere. ....
Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake is a Social and Medical Anthropologist, at the International Center for Ethnic Studies, based in Colombo. Sri Lanka. A lockdown closer home. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres walking the empty corridors of the UN Secretariat building in New York in 2020. Credit: United Nations COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan 7 2021 (IPS) - The currently available Covid-19 vaccines have been authorized for ‘emergency use ‘in Europe and North America. This is due to an apparent spike in Covid-19 flu cases in the northern hemisphere as winter advances. Highly advertised vaccines are being produced and rolled out at ‘warped speed’ by powerful pharmaceutical and bio-technology companies headquartered in Euro-America although their efficacy including how long their immunity lasts is not clear. ....
Country-Level, Qualitative Data For 2020 Expose The Covid-19 Status In Sri Lanka 1. A year after Covid-19 emerged, the Sri Lanka country statistics and data for year 2020 indicate that Covid-19 is milder than seasonal influenza, as is the case in other tropical countries like Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh or Tanzania. The number of deaths due to Covid-19 and related co-morbidities in 2020 in Sri Lanka was 204, although in a normal year between 4,000 and 6000 people die of influenza co-morbidities annually in Sri Lanka[1]. 2. Yet, economically, socially and politically devastating Curfews and isolation policies have been introduced, resulting in fear, isolation, increasing poverty, inequality and pushing the island into a bigger debt trap and forcing the Government to sell off strategic assets and seemingly give tax relief to various international companies, investors and airlines ....