The vaccination gap, climate in a teacup + more
🌎 Your briefing from the WorldWise desk.
Welcome to WorldWise, a newsletter to help discerning readers get truly global insight where current affairs meet humanity, written by Anita Makri.
This is a Weekly Briefing with key headlines curated to make sense of the news.
The global divide is becoming more visible.
India is a dramatic and extreme case, but not the only country seeing new pandemic waves. As rich nations roll out vaccines and prepare to move past the worst, much of the developing world is getting left behind (Axios + NYT + Bloomberg).
Global leaders are starting to wake up to the fact that this inequity matters not just morally, but for the global economy too (Al Jazeera + Guardian).
A sure sign is the surprise move by the Biden administration to support a temporary waiver to vaccine patents. More on this below, but in a nutshell, it has had a mixed reception, and isn’t expected to make a difference in the short-term.
Even with more vaccinations, herd immunity is hard to reach and hardly a guaranteed shield from new variants. The latest sign of this is an unprecedented spike in cases in the world's most vaccinated country, tiny Seychelles (WaPo + BBC + TIME). It’s not clear why, but commentators suggest a likely explanation is the use of vaccines of relatively low effectiveness.
Meanwhile, the WHO has now said that the variant first identified in India is of global concern, as studies show it spreads more easily. More COVID cases were reported in the last two weeks than in the first six months of the pandemic. And a new analysis of the global death toll has found that deaths have been undercounted from the beginning: the true number is likely double the official estimates (STAT + Al Jazeera + Vox).
There’s more detail below—first, a look at other news.
Beyond the pandemic
ENVIRONMENT | Deforestation continues unabated in Brazil, where 430,000 acres of rainforest have been lost so far this year. Major European retailers and investors are pushing against a proposed law set to expand property rights on the country’s public land (TRF + Al Jazeera). Some observers caution that criticism of the government will likely backfire. There’s better news for the tropical forests of Southeast Asia: less felling and more conservation. A new $1billion global forest conservation programme is aiming for a more effective system for companies to pay for nature-based emissions reductions. Over in Africa, Mozambique has a new national park.
CLIMATE & ENERGY | New climate targets are getting the world closer to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. That would help cut sea level rise by half by 2100—but at the current pace of global heating, there’s a risk of an “unstoppable” rise as the Antarctic ice sheet melts (New Scientist + Guardian + Axios). Tea plantations are also at risk, as are millions of jobs linked to those plantations (Guardian + TRF). Meanwhile, Kenya and Tanzania have signed a deal for a gas pipeline that will run between the coastal cities of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam (VOA + Nation). China’s carbon pollution is now reportedly greater than that of all developed countries combined. A more hopeful stat: the global renewable energy industry grew at its fastest rate since 1999 last year.
HEALTH | There’s a global shortage of midwives—by about 1 million—and it’s leading to an estimated 4.3 million deaths of mothers and babies every year (Telegraph + Guardian + UNFPA). In Peru, the pandemic has led to a surprising resurgence of TB. Uganda is now using drones to deliver HIV drugs to remote islands.
HUMANITARIAN & HUMAN RIGHTS | This week’s hunger warnings focus on Madagascar, Zimbabwe and South Sudan (Guardian + VOA + DW + UN). The outlook for the rest of the year isn’t good, according to a report by 16 organisations. Uganda has passed a bill criminalising same-sex relationships and sex work (Guardian + All Africa). In Malawi, refugees that had been integrated into the country have now been ordered into an overcrowded camp. Meanwhile, refugees and migrants continue to lose their lives as Europe continues to push them back (Guardian + All Africa).
🔹 Other headlines that caught my eye
Series of murders brings attention to rise of femicide in Latin America - Axios
Thailand’s draft NGO law threatens to undermine civil society groups - Global Voices
'Cooling gap' widens, despite rising heat, as pandemic hikes poverty - TRF
The global vaccine crisis sends ominous signal for fighting climate change - NYT
Has the international community abandoned Myanmar? - Devex
Catching up with Covid-19
INDIA’S PANDEMIC | Reports continue to document record cases and deaths (Economist + Al Jazeera + LAHT)—with one report of a dip—as well as oxygen shortages (TRF + Axios + PBS/AP + LAHT) and analyses of how it all came to this (ScienceNews + Economist). The country now accounts for half the world’s cases, up from one in 25 in early March. The number of deaths are an underestimate beyond the global error margin: likely around 25,000, rather than the reported 4,000, according to one analysis. When a local newspaper in Rajkot published 240 obituaries in late April, the official death count for the city and its surrounding district was 12, according to the Washington Post. A crowdfunding campaign is raising huge funds to support crematorium workers. The central government had to be forced by a court order to provide more oxygen to hospitals in New Delhi (WaPo + WaPo). Doctors are now also reporting cases of a rare infection—mucormycosis, also called the "black fungus"—among recovering and recovered Covid-19 patients (Times of India + BBC + Guardian + LAHT).
🎥 VISUAL | A life and death shift with a young doctor in COVID-hit India - Reuters Wider Image
PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE | India’s Narendra Modi and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro are in the spotlight for presiding over their countries’ tragic encounters with Covid-19 (Nature + Al Jazeera + Human Rights Watch). An investigation into Bolsonaro’s handling of the crisis is ongoing as Brazil makes an attempt to hold him accountable (Intercept + Guardian + DW + Al Jazeera). The government is also being challenged for failing to make vulnerable groups a priority (TRF + WaPo).
VACCINE ACCESS | In a move that took everyone by surprise, and grabbed numerous headlines, the US government declared support for temporarily waiving COVID vaccine patents (WaPo + Guardian + VOA + Nature + Al Jazeera + AP + Devex). US support is a significant tilt for upcoming discussions at the World Trade Organization and a step towards boosting production. In most quarters this has been well-received—but there is also criticism, and not just from pharmaceutical companies (MSF + WaPo + Axios + WSJ). Europe’s response has been mixed, and Germany has opposed it, arguing that it distracts from other limits on the global supply (Euronews +Axios + FT). Even if a waiver is agreed, which could take months, it’s only the first step in a long process of working out the logistics, and won’t have an immediate impact on supplies (VOA + Economist + Axios). Though significant, the move may be more symbolic than substantive in the short-term.
Right now, the reality is that India’s vaccine shortage is due to last for months (FT + TNH + Quartz). This affects global donations via COVAX, which are already behind schedule (Devex + Economist). Supply may be boosted by vaccines from China—the WHO has granted emergency authorisation to the Sinopharm jab—but there’s little published data to evaluate their performance (WaPo + Al Jazeera + Nature).
Some parts of the developing world are starting to look at solutions on home ground (Economist + FT). In Africa and Iraq, hesitancy and mistrust are adding to supply problems (Reuters + Devex + WaPo).
NEW SCIENCE AT A GLANCE | Studies suggest that the Pfizer vaccine protects against virus variants from the UK and South Africa (Nature + NYT). Similarly with the Moderna vaccine: a booster protects against variants from South Africa and Brazil (Guardian + NYT). Evidence from Israel adds to evidence that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine give over 95% protection. A study suggests that Covid-19 is actually a vascular rather than a respiratory disease.
🔹 Other headlines that caught my eye
Nepal facing ‘human catastrophe’ similar to India’s - Guardian
Covid-19 rise in Bangladesh correlates with increasing detection of B.1.351 variant - British Medical Journal
Vaccine supply crunch adds to risk of COVID-19 resurgence in Africa - ReliefWeb/WHO + All Africa
Laos records first Covid-19 related death over a year into the pandemic - CNN
US authorises Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 12 to 15 - NYT + VOA
Why mixing vaccines could help boost immunity - MIT Tech Review
🎥 VISUAL | Cuba during the pandemic - Guardian 🌎
WorldWise is an independent newsletter—thanks for your readership and support.
Thoughts to share, or something I missed? Hit reply or leave a comment.
Enjoying it? Share and invite others to subscribe, or just tap the heart button.
Want more global journalism? Get in touch to discuss sponsorship options.
📬 Find out more and subscribe | 🙏 Support on Ko-fi | 🔹 Follow on Twitter