President Biden is doing a landmark job of getting us all vaccinated. After Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic it’s a relief to have it all being done in a timely and sane manner.

But there’s a big problem for us in this country. The coronavirus can easily mutate. There are variants popping up all over the world. They are often more transmissible and more fatal than those we’ve seen so far. The new vaccines may not stop some of the variants. Therein lies the problem.

While we are sighing relief at finally getting vaccinated, there are vast numbers of people for whom the vaccinations are not available. In this country the underlying racism makes it hard for some folks to get the help they need. All over the world, especially in the global south, there are countries where few or no vaccines are available. In the places without adequate vaccinations there are surges of cases and deaths. India and Brazil are two such places. These are places where mutations of the virus are most likely. As we’ve seen, the virus doesn’t know about national borders.

It’s important that we work on making the vaccine available to everyone in the world. The health and life of people is much more important than the patents and the profits. The pandemic is a global phenomenon. The solutions must also be global.

 

Abby Shahn

Solon