COVID-19: Claims Against Infamy

Three million deaths registered the Covid-19 this Saturday on the planet and just writing it makes the hands and also the soul tremble.

Three million people who probably had plans, friends, loves ... And those, their close survivors, today carry a sadness that’s impossible to draw away.

Many probably could not even shake hands before leaving because of the threat of contagion forces the sick to remain isolated.

In some hospitals they have devised a glove filled with warm water that they place on the hand of the seriously sick; or two, like wrapping their hand. They say that it transmits solace to them, that it makes them feel less alone ... But what a painful consolation it is for those who would like to trade places with the glove with their human warmth.

António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, regretted from Twitter reaching such a tragic record and at the same time urged, in memory of the deceased, to continue moving forward to ensure that everyone, everywhere, can urgently access the vaccinations and necessary treatments.

It’s a call already reiterated by the World Health Organization (WHO) on behalf of its director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

But it’s even more regrettable that the exorbitant number of deaths is the passivity of a part of the planet in the face of these calls and those of many others who, without microphones or platforms, also claim because their neighbors or loved ones have fallen sick and perhaps there’s no way to save them.

We, Cuba, staying on this side of the scale where scarce are plenty, we also join our voice to the demand for equitable access to anti-COVID-19 vaccines.

One of the most recent exhortations was that of Deputy Minister of Public Health, Carilda Peña García, who asked that these drugs be a global public good that reaches everyone in a fair, equitable, and timely manner.

It was at the virtual meeting "A vaccine for all", during a special ministerial meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, where the Cuban official stressed that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to understand that international solidarity and cooperation are essential in these type of situations.

There are many ways to say it, but those claims are ultimately against infamy. How else to qualify that about twenty rich countries hold about 88% of all the anticovid vaccines distributed?

"Countries that are now vaccinating younger and healthier people at low risk of disease are doing so at the cost of the lives of health workers, the elderly and other groups at risk in other countries," denounced the WHO director general, and isn’t that an infamy?

Of course, Pope Francis didn’t say it like that, he didn’t speak of infamy, but just in his homily at St. Peter's Basilica, before the Urbi et Orbi blessing, in his traditional Easter message on April 4^th, he urged, “in the spirit of a 'vaccine internationalism'” to a common commitment by the entire international community to overcome the delays in the distribution of the immunogen and to promote its distribution, especially in the poorest countries.

 "... How about we stare beyond infamy to foresee another possible world," said writer Galeano from his eternal clairvoyance.

It’s necessary not only to cultivate a hope that smells of future, but also that the governments of rich countries, those where there are six or more anticovid vaccines per inhabitant, come down to earth which is no longer capable of accommodate any more graves, and understand that the future won’t be theirs either, if we don’t all save ourselves.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff