Greta Thunberg, the teenage activist, does not plan to attend the next UN-sponsored climate talks, scheduled to be held in Glasgow in November. When vaccine coverage is so low and unequal around the world, most nations won’t be able to send their representatives, she explains. She has thus pointed to the link between climate injustice and vaccine inequality.

Greta Thunberg’s tweet:
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1380440024014069761

The BBC interview:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-56686163

She says she would love to attend the Glasgow #COP26 – only if everyone can take part on the same terms. “Right now many countries are vaccinating healthy young people, often at the expense of risk groups and front line workers (mainly from global south, as usual...).” This is undemocratic and would worsen the problem. “Inequality and climate injustice is already the heart of the climate crisis.”

Vaccine inequality is indeed stark. At the beginning of this month, of all the doses administered everywhere, barely 0.1 percent went to the low-income countries. The richest nations have cornered three-quarters of the vaccines distributed worldwide. The height of callousness is that some rich nations have been sitting tight on a stock far in excess of their requirement, and yet they won’t share it with nations in dire need. The nations that will not receive sufficient vaccines by the time of the event (the annual event was cancelled last November) would not be sending participants.

Britain insists the meet will be in-person (though it can eventually be virtual too). That is beside the point the 18-year-old Swedish activist is seeking to highlight – the inhuman attitude of the rich nations in believing themselves secure from the virus while a large part of the world remain vulnerable. It is the same attitude that is exacerbating climate injustice – rich nations ignoring the challenges suffered by poor countries.

Also see:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/04/09/greta-thunberg-cop26-boycott-vaccines/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/climate/greta-thunberg-glasgow-cop26.html

Vaccine inequality:
https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/22/global-covid-vaccine-inequality-becoming-more-grotesque-every-day-who-warns

Update:
https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/94/11/15-162172/en/