Trinidad and Tobago has accused the world’s most affluent countries of hoarding Monkeypox vaccines
Developed nations have been hoarding Monkeypox vaccines, showing little regard for other countries’ needs, Trinidad and Tobago’s health minister has claimed, comparing the situation to what happened at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.
At a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Terrence Deyalsingh said “something rather unfortunate is happening on the vaccine front” with the Monkeypox virus, where “bigger, wealthier countries are stockpiling vaccines for their populations, leaving smaller countries like Trinidad and Tobago at a disadvantage.”
The minister expressed disappointment that the international community has failed to learn from the Covid 19 pandemic, with developed nations reverting to the same “regrettable” hoarding behavior.
Deyalsingh argued that vaccines against Monkeypox should be “made available on a more equitable level to all countries,” taking into account population size and individual risk profiles.
So far, no cases of Monkeypox have been detected in Trinidad and Tobago, though the presence of the virus has been confirmed in nearby Jamaica and The Bahamas.
According to estimates provided by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, as of Wednesday, 10,857 cases of Monkeypox had been confirmed globally, a little over two months since it started spreading outside of its endemic region in West Africa.
The disease is believed to have claimed at least three lives so far this year, with Western Europe, North America and Brazil among the most affected regions.
The Monkeypox virus causes a disease similar to smallpox, though less severe. It can be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin, or in the mouth or throat, as well as respiratory droplets and contaminated objects. The disease is believed to be particularly prevalent among homosexual men.
At the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO), and groups including the African Union, repeatedly criticized rich nations for hoarding much-needed Covid vaccines to the detriment of poorer countries.
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Backers of the former president believe they’d be “better off” if GOP-led states split from the US, a Yahoo/YouGov survey has shown
Many residents of Republican-controlled states who voted for then-President Donald Trump in 2020 believe they would be “better off” if their state seceded from the US, a new poll has revealed.
About 33% of Trump voters in so-called red states say they’d personally fare better if their state “became an independent country,” according to a Yahoo/YouGov poll released on Friday. That compared with 29% who believe they’d be “worse off” after secession. The remaining 38% are either unsure or see themselves faring “about the same” in a newly independent state.
The margin was similar when Americans were asked how their state as a whole would fare after secession, with 35% of Trump voters speculating that it would be better off versus 30% saying that it would be worse off.
The poll marks the latest illustration of increasing political polarization and cultural division in American life. Half of Americans believe there will be another US civil war in their lifetime and that the country will cease to be a democracy at some point, an earlier Yahoo/YouGov poll showed in June.
The divide grew even deeper with last month’s US Supreme Court ruling that abortion isn’t a protected constitutional right, leaving the hotly contested issue for state lawmakers to decide. About half of states have either banned abortion already or are expected to place new restrictions on the procedure within the next several weeks.
About 92% of red-state Trump voters trust their state government more than the federal government to do “what’s best,” the latest poll found. Eight in 10 blue-state residents who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 trust their state government more than Washington.
Just 15% of overall respondents believe the US is “generally headed in the right direction,” compared with 72% who say it’s “off on the wrong track,” the poll showed. Only 27% trust that Biden is “up to the challenges facing the US,” versus 56% who say he isn’t.
Americans also have a grim outlook of the future, with 46% saying the next generation will be “worse off” and only 25% saying it will be “better off.” Similarly, 37% of voters believe America’s best days are “behind us,” compared with 31% who say those days are “still to come.”
Neither Trump nor Biden is viewed as the solution. Only 28% of respondents say Trump should run for president again in 2024, while 18% say Biden should seek re-election.
