MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2020) The new coronavirus disease may become another condition that disproportionately affects the poorest nations, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross regional delegation for Mexico and Central America said Tuesday.
"The first danger is that the vaccine will transform COVID-19 into yet another disease of the poor like so many other diseases today that have vaccine that you can be immunized against," Jordi Raich said at a Valdai Club online discussion.
Raich said during the event, titled "Global Response to the Pandemic: the Strategy of the World Community and Social Challenges," that hundreds of thousands have been dying every day from diseases because they did not have access to even the easy and cheap treatments.
"One of the characteristics of this pandemic is that it has turned the whole humanity, everyone of us vulnerable. But If we have become vulnerable those who were vulnerable before have become super vulnerable even more so," he noted.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 16 million globally have been infected with the virus and over 600,000 have died from complications of COVID-19. Several vaccines are currently in various phases of human trials but chances of them making it to the mass market before 2021 are slim.
The Red Cross expects next year to see a rise in Americas' displaced population, with the pandemic driving internal migration as countries scramble to protect their economies by enforcing even stricter border controls.�
"In 2021 we expect an increase in displaced persons, displacing from rural areas to cities because of the loss of income, an increase in migration at the time when the borders will be stricter than ever... and an increase in violence," he said.
Violence is already "part of our reality" in Mexico, the health charity's official said, and is expected to worsen as the economic fallout from the pandemic continues.�
