1./ The vaccine hypocrisy of G7 leaders is breathtaking. They make it sound like they care SO very much about deaths in the developing world. Actually, their priority is about eradicating COVID globally in order to protect us; their own citizens. theguardian.com/world/2021/feb…
2./ That's understandable. The downside is they're asking African and other leaders to mount national vaccination campaigns (with all the effort that entails) when those nations have much more pressing health concerns of their own; like neo-natal deaths.👇 who.int/news-room/fact…
3./ 7000 new born babies die EVERY DAY across the world and EVERY YEAR 2.1M children die in the first month of life; almost as many people as have died from COVID so far globally. 5% of deaths in Africa are from HIV, another 5% from malaria, both entirely preventable.
4./ The average age in Africa is 19. The French ex-colony of Mali where Macron likes to grandstand so much has an average age of 15. Why would COVID matter as much to a nation like Mali as it does in France, with an average age of 41? COVID could be about to turn the tables....
5./ If we want to protect ourselves in the rich West from new strains of COVID that could emerge from, say Africa, then maybe we'll have to pay through the nose (and quite rightly) to the young, vibrant nations of Africa to solve their other major health issues as well as COVID.
6./ First, let's drop the BS about how our altruism is driving our vaccination "donations". We're going to have to ask Africa very nicely indeed if they could prioritise COVID. 🙏If they should agree, then Africans will be doing us a huge favour and not the other way around.
7./ It's obviously true that nowhere will be safe from new strains of COVID until every nation has ready access to vaccines. But if we want to vaccinate everywhere the West must also commit to lifting the burden of other diseases that blight the developing world and shame us all.
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