the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 7, 2021
President Biden has said that the U.S. will share 80 million vaccine doses to countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as Palestine.
This is AFTER the U.S. and other wealthy countries bought up far more of the world’s share of vaccines than they actually needed, shutting out the poor countries that Biden now pretends to help.
It’s also after Biden and other world leaders refused to lift the patent restrictions on those vaccines, so that all of those poor countries could cheaply make the vaccines for themselves. They already have the means—much of that vaccine supply bought by the rich countries, was produced IN those poor countries.
It is also a tiny drop in a very large sea of need: 11 BILLION doses are needed to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population. Only about 1.7 billion have even been produced at this point.
Biden’s pledge does nothing to meet that crying need in most of the world, which continues to be ravaged by the Covid pandemic even as cases drop in the U.S. and Europe. But the U.S. gets to look generous, while the profits of the pharmaceutical companies are assured.