Members of the College of Bishops have voted unanimously to endorse a statement by two Anglican Communion bodies which calls for an emergency meeting of the G7 to commit to vaccine equity.
The world leaders, meeting in New York today, are being asked to address global issues of hoarding and wastage of COVID vaccines.
Bishop Ruth spoke of her concerns about vaccine equity on BBC Somerset on Sunday, you can listen to that interview in full by clicking on the link below.
Bishop Ruth says, “I would urge everyone to take the booster jab as offered to them. What concerns me is that we promised to share vaccines across our world. This is about looking after the immunity of us all. If we are only looking after ourselves then I fear we are losing something of our moral and ethical concern to love our neighbour as ourselves. Our neighbour isn’t just the person next door it is also the person in our global community across the world.”
The statement from the Anglican Communion Health & Community Network and Anglican Alliance says, “Globally, over 5.5 billion vaccine doses have now been administered, but 80% have been administered in high-and upper-middle income countries. Meanwhile, Africa’s vaccination coverage is at 2%.
“Even as booster jabs are given and over 12s vaccinated, rich nations are still on track to amass an excess of 1 billion vaccines by the end of the year. This excess will only increase in 2022 as global vaccine manufacturing increases. Rich nations must not hoard the surpluses amassed – but must share.”
Read the full statement from the House of Bishops
Read the full statement from the Anglican Communion Health & Community Network and Anglican Alliance