Leaders at UN General Assembly Talk of Vaccine Inequality
2021-09-24
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1Sharing COVID-19 vaccines has been a major subject of discussion at this year's United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
2South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni were among those who spoke on Thursday.
3Most of Thursday's speakers were leaders from African nations.
4Their countries are not able to get enough vaccines to protect their people.
5Ramaphosa said that it is "an indictment on humanity" that more than 82 percent of the world's COVID-19 vaccines are in the hands of rich countries.
6He said less than one percent have gone to poor countries.
7He added, "nnless we address this as a matter of urgency, the pandemic will last much longer" as new forms of the virus appear.
8The struggle to contain the coronavirus also has been a big issue in speeches given at the U.N. meeting.
9In a statement to the U.N., Mokgweetsi Masisi, the President of Botswana said: "Botswana shares the frustration by many and strongly supports the call for the vaccines to be treated as a global public good."
10On Wednesday, American President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would buy 1 billion of Pfizer's COVID-19 shots to share with the world.
11That was two times the amount of his earlier promise.
12He also said he supported a goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the world's population within the next year.
13Some countries have had vaccines widely available to their populations for months.
14But other countries have struggled to get supplies.
15The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that four percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
16Ramaphosa took part in a meeting Wednesday that was called by Biden to talk about increasing efforts to vaccinate people all over the world.
17At that meeting, Biden announced the U.S. deal to buy an additional 500 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to send to other countries.
18"Of the around 6 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, only two percent of these have been administered in Africa, a continent of more than 1.2 billion people," Ramaphosa said.
19"This is unjust and immoral."
20Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of world leaders made video presentations instead of traveling to New York to speak in person.
21About half of Thursday's speeches were by video.
22Speaking on video from Havana, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel denounced the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
23He said it has been made worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
24Speaking at the U.N., Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo said his country has vaccinated more than half of its population.
25"Thanks to this, we are only weeks away from reaching herd immunity," he said.
26Cortizo asked for the support of the international community to deal with the large number of migrants passing through his nation.
27Many of the migrants are from Africa and the Caribbean islands.
28Cortizo said, "This is everyone's responsibility."
29I'm Jill Robbins.
1Sharing COVID-19 vaccines has been a major subject of discussion at this year's United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. 2South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni were among those who spoke on Thursday. 3Most of Thursday's speakers were leaders from African nations. Their countries are not able to get enough vaccines to protect their people. 4Ramaphosa said that it is "an indictment on humanity" that more than 82 percent of the world's COVID-19 vaccines are in the hands of rich countries. He said less than one percent have gone to poor countries. He added, "nnless we address this as a matter of urgency, the pandemic will last much longer" as new forms of the virus appear. 5The struggle to contain the coronavirus also has been a big issue in speeches given at the U.N. meeting. 6In a statement to the U.N., Mokgweetsi Masisi, the President of Botswana said: "Botswana shares the frustration by many and strongly supports the call for the vaccines to be treated as a global public good." 7On Wednesday, American President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would buy 1 billion of Pfizer's COVID-19 shots to share with the world. That was two times the amount of his earlier promise. He also said he supported a goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the world's population within the next year. 8Some countries have had vaccines widely available to their populations for months. But other countries have struggled to get supplies. The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that four percent of the population is fully vaccinated. 9Ramaphosa took part in a meeting Wednesday that was called by Biden to talk about increasing efforts to vaccinate people all over the world. At that meeting, Biden announced the U.S. deal to buy an additional 500 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to send to other countries. 10"Of the around 6 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, only two percent of these have been administered in Africa, a continent of more than 1.2 billion people," Ramaphosa said. "This is unjust and immoral." 11Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of world leaders made video presentations instead of traveling to New York to speak in person. About half of Thursday's speeches were by video. 12Speaking on video from Havana, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel denounced the U.S. embargo against Cuba. He said it has been made worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. 13Speaking at the U.N., Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo said his country has vaccinated more than half of its population. "Thanks to this, we are only weeks away from reaching herd immunity," he said. 14Cortizo asked for the support of the international community to deal with the large number of migrants passing through his nation. Many of the migrants are from Africa and the Caribbean islands. Cortizo said, "This is everyone's responsibility." 15I'm Jill Robbins. 16Jill Robbins adapted this report for Learning English from VOA and Associated Press Reports and other materials. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 17__________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19discuss - v. to give information, ideas, opinions, etc., about (something) in writing or speech 20indictment - n. an expression or statement of strong disapproval 21address - v. to give attention to (something) 22frustration - n. a feeling of anger or annoyance caused by being unable to do something 23dose - n. the amount of a medicine, drug or vitamin that is taken at one time 24herd immunity - n. the situation where a large portion of a population becomes immune to an infectious disease, limiting further disease spread 25What do you think of the speeches of the African leaders? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.