Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Rich nations must do more than just donate surplus vaccines if they hope to end the COVID-19 pandemic, according to public health experts and humanitarian groups that are calling for money, increased production and logistical support to help developing countries where the virus is still raging.
The appeal came after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he hoped leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations will agree to provide at least 1 billion vaccine doses for poorer countries. The G7 leaders, who are holding their annual meeting this weekend in Cornwall, southwest England, continue to debate other forms of aid to get lifesaving vaccine shots into arms.
While almost half of the combined population of the G7 nations has received at least one dose of vaccine the worldwide figure is less than 13 per cent. In Africa, it's just 2.2 per cent.
Wealthy nations must act quickly not just out of altruism, but to protect their own citizens, because the virus will continue to mutate as long as it is allowed to spread unchecked, resulting in potentially more dangerous variants, said Lily Caprani, head of COVID-19 vaccines advocacy for UNICEF.
"(This) requires political will and urgent action now," Caprani told The Associated Press. "So I think all of us should be urging our leaders to do it, not just because it's the right thing to do, but it's the smart thing to do, and it's the only way out."
Johnson, who is hosting the G7 summit, and U.S. President Joe Biden opened the meeting by announcing that their countries would donate a total of 600 million vaccine doses over the next year.
But International Monetary Fund economists recently estimated it would cost $50 billion to vaccinate 60 per cent of the world's population by the middle of next year and that achieving that goal would generate $9 trillion in additional economic output by 2025.
Those appealing for wealthier nations to do more to make vaccines available worldwide argue it would be a worthwhile investment in human capital.
"If we do this, and everyone's saying it's the deal of the century, about 60 per cent of those resources need to come from wealthy countries in the G7," said Robert Yates, director of the global health program at Chatham House, a London-based public policy think tank.
Countries like the United States and Britain secured supplies of multiple COVID-19 vaccines while they were still in development, hoping to guarantee shipments of any successful candidates. That left them with enough doses to inoculate their entire populations two or three times over after regulators approved a number of shots.
They are now under pressure to provide shots for low-income countries immediately and not wait until they have vaccinated younger age groups in their own countries. COVID-19 poses the greatest risk to older people and those with underlying health conditions, who account for the vast majority of those who have died from the disease.
Ahead of the G7 meeting, the IMF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization said the group's top priority should be ending the pandemic and securing the global economic recovery.
"The current approach to COVID-19 vaccination -- using limited vaccine supplies to protect low-risk populations in a handful of countries while low- and middle-income economies wait indefinitely for doses --- doesn't make sense for anyone," World Bank President David Malpass wrote last month. "A successful global vaccination effort must be equitable."
But vaccines alone aren't enough to complete the task.
Fragile health care systems in low-income countries need equipment, training and logistical support so they can mount the kind of turbocharged mass vaccination programs that have been successful in Europe and North America.
The U.K., for example, turned to its National Health Service for staff and commandeered cathedrals, stadiums and museums as mass vaccination centers. More than 60 per cent of the U.K. population, and almost 80 per cent of adults, have received at least one dose of vaccine.
While infections, hospitalizations and deaths have all plunged with the success of the vaccination program in Britain, public health officials are still concerned about new variants that may prove more resistant to existing vaccines. The government recently banned most travel from India to slow the spread of the delta variant discovered there.
Epidemiologists say the best way to head off potentially dangerous variants is to vaccinate the most vulnerable people around the world as quickly as possible.
"Talk is cheap, and talk isn't going to get it done," Jeevun Sandher, a former U.K. government economist who is studying inequality at King's College London, said. "A finely worded communique with our ambitions and a commitment to global cooperation is just not going to get it done. We absolutely need to see the checks. Get out those pens and start signing."
Developing nations are also calling on the U.S., Britain and the European Union -- where the most widely used vaccines were developed -- to relax patent protections and provide technical assistance so they can produce the shots for themselves.
The Biden administration has backed a temporary waiver of patent protections, saying "extraordinary times and circumstances call for extraordinary measures." But the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has opposed such a move, arguing that government assistance to vaccine makers and voluntary licensing agreements are the best way to increase supply.
A decision on the matter will come from the World Trade Organization.
Activists argue that the technology should be transferred to developing countries so they can produce vaccines and COVID-19 treatments for themselves, reducing their dependence on manufacturing elsewhere.
Daphne Jayasinghe of the International Rescue Committee, noted that the debate is taking place against the backdrop of the U.K. government's decision to cut spending on international aid, "which is deeply affecting health services in countries where they are needed the most.
"The promises to deliver surplus vaccines are certainly welcome.., but they must be accompanied by more action," Jayasinghe said. "We'd like to see other G-7 member states making similar commitments to share vaccines, but what needs to go with that is the infrastructure and the health services to deliver those vaccines."
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Calgary police shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers dealt with a distraught individual. The incident lasted almost 20 hours.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.