Former Prime Minister of Jamaica P.J. Patterson is again sounding the alarm on vaccine apartheid.
Speaking as Statesman in Residence at the P.J. Patterson Centre for African-Caribbean Advocacy at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, he is warning that the discriminatory distribution of vaccine distribution is not only devastating for Africa but is a clear and present danger to the entire world.
“Inadequate vaccination campaigns in Africa are a threat not only to Arica but to the entire world,” he said.
According to data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Oxford low-income countries could have added $38 billion to their GDP forecast for 2021 if they had similar vaccination rates as high-income countries.
The world economy could lose $2.3 trillion because of delayed vaccinations, with developing nations losing the most, as the Economist Intelligence Unit has found.
“I have said this before, but I am repeating my warning given the mounting evidence that the pandemic can only be effectively curtailed if it is addressed simultaneously every where in the world”.
