COVID-19, variants and the pandemic

 We keep reading about SARS-CoV-2 virus variants that are more contagious, more dangerous for young people and evading some of the vaccines. These variants emerge through infections. Fewer infections, fewer variants. Thus, anything that impedes the process of vaccinating everyone world-wide contributes to the emergence of new and potentially vaccine-resistant COVID-19.

"As of this writing in early April, fewer than 600 million vaccine doses have been administered around the world; three-quarters of those in just 10 mostly high-income countries. Close to 130 countries containing 2.5 billion people have yet to administer a single dose. The timeline for supplying poor and middle-income countries with enough vaccines to achieve herd immunity, meanwhile, has been pushed into 2024. These numbers represent more than the “catastrophic moral failure” the director general of the WHO warned about this January. It is a stark reminder than any policy that obstructs or inhibits vaccine production risks being self-defeating for the rich countries defending exclusive rights and gobbling up the lion’s share of available vaccine supplies. The truth repeated so often throughout the pandemic—no one is safe until everyone is safe—remains in force."

https://newrepublic.com/article/162000/bill-gates-impeded-global-access-covid-vaccines?fbclid=IwAR3BVXmQprdZZjDg9gzNDqzzmzDSjLQHL0uCG1SkC01z8rPFo0hkS-ee3As