Thread by @astroehlein

Vaccine doses given globally so far (💉=500 million):

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Amount needed globally (assuming 70% fully vaccinated for herd immunity):

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Number given so far in low-income countries:

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Vaccine rollout is too slow & too uneven.

The key reason vaccine rollout is slow & uneven is the shortage of vaccine doses. Not enough are being produced, so rich countries have been fighting each other over scarce supplies, while low income countries beg for scraps and get little or nothing.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

The rich countries fighting each other over scarce supplies - EU, US, UK, etc - are the very same countries that are creating global vaccine scarcity in the first place.

They are literally blocking wider production of vaccines globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver at the WTO

Why would leaders in the EU, US, UK, etc do this?

Well, the straightforward answer is that their leaders are prioritizing pharma company profits over human lives.

This is, with no exaggeration, the biggest scandal of our time.
peoplesvaccine.org

There's also something darker going on, too, I suspect… A "first world" attitude that disregards the rights of people in other countries… A deeply engrained pathway in the brains of many in the EU, US, UK, etc… A mental conditioning that says those other lives don't matter…

Call it the lifetime brainwashing of racism & white supremacy we all get... Call it the long colonial hangover... But whatever you call it, you can't look at this map and - despite a few exceptions - not see an ugly, familiar pattern...

83% of shots that have gone into arms worldwide have been administered in high- & upper-middle-income countries.

Only 0.2% of doses have been administered in low-income countries.

And yet… so many people in the EU, US, UK, etc simply accept this. Why?

Some see the problem but think that the only solution is charity - again, it's a well-worn mental pathway when those in rich countries think about solutions for low-income countries...

Rich governments are donating money to COVAX, a global vaccine procurement facility.

But while COVAX may help get 20% of some poorer countries' doses, that's not nearly herd immunity level, which is 70% at least.

And rich countries use COVAX as an excuse to do nothing further

The idea that you can throw money at a problem when that problem is scarcity... that's madness.

The monopoly position of pharma companies - supported by the rich governments - means that vaccine production is limited to whatever the companies want it to be.

Remember, a business aims to maximize profits, not production necessarily.

So, the rich governments are helping the pharma companies boost their profits, enhancing scarcity. Great for the pharma companies. Terrible for global public health.

And they get away with it in part because people have been conditioned not to care about certain others.

And what many people living in the richer countries don't seem to realize is that their own dismissive attitude toward the rights and needs of those living in poorer countries is actually self-destructive.

In short, our racism is dangerous for our own health, too.

Even if you can somehow disregard the suffering & death of others, and even if you think continued economic disruption won't affect you…

In prolonging the pandemic by blocking wider vaccine production globally, rich governments are endangering us all - everywhere. You too.

Prolonging the pandemic means giving more chances for new variants of the virus to emerge that are:

➡️ more deadly,

➡️ more virulent, and/or

➡️ resistant to the current vaccines.

This affects everyone. Even those already vaccinated.
oxfam.org/en/press-relea…

3.2 million dead...

A vaccine found thanks to public money but then not shared with everyone...

How many millions more will die?

The death toll will mount ever higher due to those who seek to profit on suffering & their powerful allies in rich governments.

But it's also due in part to deep, long-standing prejudices that keep people locked in national & racist mindsets, so that they cannot even comprehend that the phrase, "no one is safe until everyone is safe", in actual fact includes them, too.

We must strive to overcome the brutal greed.

We must strive to overcome the racist ignorance.

Both are literally killing us.

By blocking wider production of vaccines globally, the EU, US, UK & others have helped pharma companies hugely.

Nevermind that limiting vaccine production is prolonging the pandemic & killing more of us...

As long as we make the rich richer...

theguardian.com/business/2021/…

🇪🇺 Calling all EU citizens! 🇪🇺

SIGN this official European Citizens' Initiative to get the EU to stop prioritising pharma profits over our lives.

🌐 Calling everyone! 🌐

Please SHARE it!

➡️ noprofitonpandemic.eu

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