Quote from GlasgowJohn

I will be leaving some Macallan for serious mourners....

I can do serious, GlasgowJohn . How serious do you need us to be?

• Royal Caribbean, based in Miami, reversed a requirement that most cruise passengers be vaccinated, The Washington Post reports. The move comes after Florida barred businesses from requiring proof of vaccinations.
• Poke and toke: Washington State will allow adults to claim a free marijuana joint when they receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

NYT, 8 June 2021

NYT June 9, 2021

Quote from UK Man

Looks like it according to what they're saying. I'm not so sure though, unless they think the ones they're giving away are no longer working?

Not sure a completely cynical reaction is actually warranted here, although a certain amount of skepticism is always healthy.

Remembering that a government’s first obligation is to safeguard its own people, no responsible country would give away doses purchased specifically for its own people as long as demand in that country had not been met.

In the US, for a variety of reasons, many people either are reluctant to be vaccinated or are dead-set against vaccination. As demand has slowed, the conversation has turned to the importance of getting vaccine to poorer countries rather than holding on to it for people who don’t want to take it anyway.

An initial round of doses were already promised to neighboring Mexico and Canada, and to covax, for distribution throughout the world. At the G7 mtg, Biden referred to our “human obligation,” as he pledged that the US will PURCHASE another 500 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, to donate to poorer countries. Today, the G7 leaders are expected to pledge that, together, they will donate a billion doses.

Adding this note to above post:

Biden’s leadership in this area is part of what is called the Arsenal of Democracy: giving help to other countries to help them achieve their own goals.

Quote from Splinter

A wealthy friend of ours who lives in a beachside mansion in Uruguay insisted on her staff being vaccinated - one of whom became infected - but refuses to get the jab herself on the basis that it does more harm than good.

On the bright side, while she chooses to be vulnerable to virus her staff might bring in, she is protecting them from infection by her!

Heather Cox Richardson letter, 13 June 2021:

“To illustrate the ability of democracies to answer the world’s needs, the G7 focused on helping the world recover from the coronavirus. It pledged another billion doses of vaccine over the next year in addition to the billion already pledged”

The G7 summit was called an "unforgivable moral failure" by Gordon Brown after leaders failed to come up with a plan to vaccinate the world, despite Boris Johnson's pledge to do so by the end of next year.

The mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, is offering people who receive a coronavirus jab the chance to win cars as daily deaths in the Russian capital hit a four-month high and suspicion of vaccines remains widespread.

The Times, 14 June, 2021

It is becoming clear that the hundreds of millions of doses being sent to third world countries are nowhere near enough. The G7 countries need to send BILLIONS of doses to countries without access or means.

Right now, the vaccination rate in the continent of Africa is below 2%. Completely unacceptable.

For those hoping to fly into Heathrow, The BBC is reporting that the airport will try fast-track lanes for travelers who have been vaccinated

Tonight’NYT updates include:

• Iranians, desperate for Covid vaccines, are crossing into Armenia to get them.
• South Asian migrant workers are stranded as they wait for vaccines.
• Malta will become the only E.U. nation to allow only fully vaccinated visitors.
• Scientists say they have detected blood irregularities that could lead to a possible diagnostic test for long Covid, the BBC reports.
• Scientists said that an unvaccinated woman in Belgium who died from Covid contracted two different variants of the virus, Reuters reports.
• Fox News hosts have been smearing Covid vaccines.

Breaking news in the Washington Post:

Yes, yes, there are many reasons to criticize the WHO and also COVAX. But they make a valid point about the disparity in vaccine availability. Sharing more widely is the right thing to do.

And from a strictly selfish perspective, first world countries should work to vaccinate people in poor countries because this is a GLOBAL situation with repercussions for the entire world if parts of it are unprotected and new variants continue to develop.

Is it possible for countries to look beyond their own borders and remember that we are One World?