Topic:
Country: United Kingdom
Delegate Name: Delaney Parkin
As the COVID-19 Pandemic is currently a very large and widespread issue, vaccine equity has become a top priority for many countries. Many families during the pandemic have had to stay in quarantine for long periods of time, since many of them are immune-compromised. This means that contracting covid-19 can lead to severe health complications and in severe cases, death. Having easy access to the vaccine means that these families can start to come out of quarantine and go back to work. During the pandemic the number of low income jobs that involve more exposure have decreased due to the fast spreading virus. Many jobs such as cleaning and cooking cannot be done without a high risk of exposure to the virus, And thus, the vaccine allows these people to go back to work and make money to pay for their basic health needs .
Vaccines can be defined as biological preparations that help improve the body’s immunity to a disease, by exposing the body to the disease without the anger of the live disease. The World Health Organization has been committed to the equal distribution of vaccines worldwide during the pandemic. There are many economic, social, geographic, and political factors that contribute to the unequal distribution of vaccines; some of which include job access, healthcare access, transportation, education, income, and wealth gaps. There is also a lack of trust in certain minority groups due to past traumas and medical experiments. Vaccines are one of the best tools the world has to help prevent the general public from diseases.
The United Kingdom has given 548 million pounds in funding to the Covax initiative, which ensures that over 170 countries have fair and early access to the COVID-19 vaccines. Covax aims to provide vaccines to twenty percent of populations in low income countries by the end of this year. The United Kingdom has also been vaccinating their populations much faster than they were expected to. For many countries, the United Kingdom leads as an example of how a more developed country can create vaccine equity. Along with this, the United Kingdom has also tried to negotiate cease-fires in war zones to allow peacekeepers to bring vaccines to those populations. Currently in England, over 90 percent of the population lives within 10 miles of a vaccine center. The UK government has established a vaccine task force which has created an approach to the vaccine distribution so the development of the vaccine development takes place quickly, without compromising safety standards.
The United Kingdom plans to continue to donate funding to lower income countries and harder to reach areas of the world. They plan to locate more vaccine centers to one hundred percent of the population in the United Kingdom and promote equal distribution and access to the vaccine. Being a large, dominant country, the UK can use its high rankings to its advantage to inspire other lower ranking countries to follow suit to the United Kingdom. The UK in most cases, believes that the United Nations does have depending on the situation. For example, in cases of mass genocide or world war, the UN should have the right to intervene and help the countries involved resolve and stop the conflict. The United Kingdom however, believes that the UN does not need to intervene on individual countries if it is not something that is big and will affect the world on a global scale. This includes protests, and politics/elections. For this topic of vaccine equity and access, the United Kingdom will most likely agree with the United States of America, Canada, and/or France.
Sources:
https://glica.org/glimun-2021-conference/glimun-2021-committees/vaccine-equity-and-access/
https://glica.org/glimun-2021-conference/glimun-2021-committees/vaccine-equity-and-access/
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-covid-19-vaccines-delivery-plan/uk-covid-19-vaccines-delivery-plan
https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/a-new-commitment-for-vaccine-equity-and-defeating-the-pandemic
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/global-vaccine-equity-is-much-more-important-than-vaccine-passports/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-021-00323-6
