Foreign affairs update

WHO slams third vaccine booster: The World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus singled out vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna for crit

Foreign affairs update

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• WHO slams third vaccine booster: The World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus singled out vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna for criticism as the two companies push for a third vaccine shot to further boost immunity levels against the virus. Offering a reminder that current two-dose vaccine regimens offer long-term immunity, Tedros said that the “priority now must be to vaccinate those who have received no doses and protection.” Mike Ryan, the head of the WHO’s emergencies program was more blunt. “What part of ‘This is a global crisis’ are we not getting?” he said. “We will look back in anger and we will look back in shame if we don’t now move to use the increasing [vaccine] production capacity that is coming on line … to protect the most vulnerable, protect the frontline health workers around the world.”
• Jamaica calls for reparations: Jamaica is to soon ask the United Kingdom for compensation, potentially totaling billions of dollars, to address the damage done by the Atlantic slave trade in the former British colony. Although a total figure for reparations is still being debated, Jamaican lawmaker Mike Henry has suggested 7.6 billion pounds ($10.5 billion)—a contemporary figure roughly equivalent to the 20 million pounds paid in the 19th century by the British government to compensate slaveholders after the British Parliament abolished the practice of slavery.
• World hunger on the rise: After five years of relatively stable numbers, world hunger shot up last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new United Nations report. The number of people facing hunger rose by 118 million to around 768 million in 2020—10 percent of the world’s population. Nearly one in three people worldwide didn’t have access to adequate food last year—320 million people more than in 2019.
• Brazil's President under fire: In Brazil the Supreme Court authorised an investigation into Jair Bolsonaro for failing to comply with his public duty. The case claims that the president overlooked irregularities in a deal on a covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin. A senate inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic is also looking into allegations that one official asked for a $1-per-dose bribe to purchase the AstraZeneca vaccine. Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets, the third mass protest in just over a month to call for Mr Bolsonaro’s impeachment.Ever Given deal: Egypt agreed to a compensation deal with the owners and insurers of the Ever Given, which ran aground and blocked the Suez canal for six days in March, seriously disrupting global trade. The terms were not made public. Egypt, which had demanded $550m, refused to release the vessel until a deal was reached.
• End of Covid restrictions: Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, confirmed that covid-19 restrictions would end in England on July 19th. The vaccination campaign has gone well, and although cases are surging and hospital admissions rising sharply, the number of deaths remains low. Social distancing will end, as will the mandatory use of face masks, a controversial topic in Britain. The chief medical officer named three situations where he would still wear a mask.
• Covid updates: Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, was in a serious but stable condition in hospital after contracting covid-19. In a reciprocal deal Israel said it would send 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that are about to expire to South Korea, where infections are rising. South Korea will return the same number of freshly produced jabs to Israel in September and October. Sydney’s two-week lockdown was extended for another week. Australia’s vaccine programme is not going well. A study found that men in England have been 30% more likely than women to test positive for covid-19 recently. It blamed football fans cramming into pubs to watch the Euro tournament. 

 

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