Vaccine access: With Pope Francis’ blessing, Catholics pressed Biden White House to waive vaccine patents

CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ and JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, report on how Catholics, in the US and elsewhere, have been involved in the push for loosening COVID-19 vaccine patents…
As COVID-19 sweeps rural India, sick struggle to access healthcare

Chennai/Mumbai, India Thomson Reuters Foundation Weakened by fever and gasping for breath, 47-year-old Vinod Kumar died in an ambulance more than 60 kilometres from his home in India’s eastern Bihar state, far from the big cities at the centre of the nation’s devastating COVID-19 crisis. His death last week followed a frantic journey and dozens […]
Africans slam rich nations for blocking access to generic COVID vaccines

Nairobi, Kenya Thomson Reuters Foundation Charities in Africa this week slammed rich nations for blocking efforts to waive patents for COVID-19 vaccines, saying this would prolong the pandemic for years in poorer nations and push millions across the continent deeper into poverty. More than 40 charities, including Amnesty International and Christian Aid, said Wednesday’s move […]
Essay: Five ways coronavirus is deepening global inequality

In an article first published on The Conversation, KUNAL SEN, director of the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University, looks at how the coronavirus is widening the gaps between the haves and have-nots…
Nobel winners call for coronavirus vaccines to be available for all

London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu and actor George Clooney are among more than 100 people who have signed an appeal for COVID-19 vaccines to be declared a global common good and made widely available. The appeal is led by the founder of the microcredit movement Muhammad Yunus, also a Nobel […]