Countries in the Global South are calling for equitable Covid-19 vaccine distributions.

While the rest of the world will soon start to be classified as countries with fully vaccinated citizens, Africa will be known as the continent of COVID.The Global South has struggled as they work towards finding solutions to getting low income countries vaccines. The African Alliance founded by Tian Jonson, a queer human rights activist cannot stand to see his continent suffer. 

Communities who dedicate themselves to ensure that vaccines are accessible through the supporting vaccine research they gathered now stand to see that the Global North is more successful, and yet they are still unable to reach ten percent of the vaccinations in Africa. Across the continent of Africa there are currently more than 200,000 active Covid-19 cases, and approximately only four percent of Africa’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

The vaccine distribution in the global south is going through a long process. Not everybody is receiving a quality service through these distributions, and some aren’t able to receive any at all which puts our current generation at risk if we aren’t able to equally share each vaccine. 

With the Covid-19 restrictions starting to slowly be lifted worldwide, variants are spreading quickly. More and more issues and structural inequalities are multiplying. 

Since Jan. 2020, Colombia has had over five million confirmed Covid-19 cases with more than 126,000 covid related deaths. Colombia’s government started off with having cities follow the basic requirements to the Covid-19 quarantine routines and not taking into consideration the most vulnerable populations of the country.

These requirements included washing hands and having access to antibacterial materials. The Colombian region did not have this. Several communities were in shortage of water and some did not have access at all. Within these conditions to follow the requirements they did not have much access to masks which was one of the most important necessities. 

In South Africa, the most important communities that are most affected by Covid-19 and its slow distributions are the rural communities. Many people in these communities are given access to travel long distances to be able to receive health services. The goal of the Ford Foundation of Southern Africa is to attempt to fix the intellectual property laws in South Africa. This is only a part of the process to get access to medications. 

The foundation is supporting both the Indian and the South African government to receive even more support from the world trade organization for the TRIPS waiver in order to easily gain access to vaccines. 

Over 100 nations are supporting the waiving of the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS agreement. This gives a faster boost to give accessible Covid-19 vaccine distributions around the world. 

Not only that but the Ford Foundation has been communicating with communities to properly educate them through the media by spreading the word on Covid-19. The Global North can only do one simple task, fulfill their promise and say their truths. 

There are counties who are hoarding supplies and nothing is being done. 

What can ordinary people do? There are several ways to help advocate for countries who are unable to receive the vaccine distribution including calling their senator, public representatives and political leaders to ask what exactly are they doing to ensure that the vaccine tax dollars that are paid get to those who need it.

Social media leaves such a major impact around the world. A simple tweet or a facebook post will gain the attention of the public and every time you speak and inform others about what’s happening in the Global South you support the lives of people who ask for the right equality of vaccine distributions.