Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo slam rich countries over vaccination

RICH countries have cornered most of the Covid-19 vaccination supplies “despite talk of global cooperation,” 2019 Nobel Prize winners Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have said. They added that developed nations need to rebuild the trust of developing countries by investing now to “vaccinate the world”.

Drawing attention to the gap in the vaccination status of rich and poor countries, the couple said, “vaccine access is deeply unequal.”


“The US is starting to vaccinate children, even as health workers and elderly people are waiting for shots in most of the world,” they wrote in The Guardian, adding that just two per cent of the population in Africa has received Covid-19 vaccination as compared with 40 per cent in the US and almost 20 per cent in European countries.

“India, one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world, has fully vaccinated three per cent of its population, and is still in the middle of a nightmarish second wave that has forced the country to stop exports of all vaccines,” wrote the economists.

Accusing the rich countries of “cornering vaccine supplies” and “planning to stockpile millions of extra doses for the future” despite the talks of “solidarity at the beginning of the pandemic,” Banerjee and Duflo said high-income countries had already bought up 50 per cent of vaccine doses by March.

The economists also questioned rich countries’ commitment towards other common goals like global efforts against the climate crisis.

“The success of Cop26 depends in part upon larger developing countries such as Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan committing to sacrifices that will only pay off if countries such as the US, UK, Germany, France and Canada can be relied upon to stick to their own commitments,” wrote the economists, adding that by agreeing to cut CO2 emissions, these developing countries will “potentially curtail their own growth.”

They said that this “sacrifice will only pay off if rich countries respond by cutting their own emissions.”

However, developing nations may now wonder “what guarantee they have that when the next disaster strikes - and domestic pressures mount - rich countries won’t abandon their commitments,” said the joint winners of the 2019 Nobel prize in economic sciences.

They added that succeeding in the Covid-19 global vaccination effort is a chance to show that the “talk of a common community and a shared destiny is more than just words.”

More For You

Sunita-Williams-Reuters

Sunita Williams was part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission and had been stranded in space for over nine months. (Photo: Reuters)

Reuters)

India looks amazing from space, says Sunita Williams

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams described India as "amazing" from space and expressed her intention to visit her "father's home country" to share her experiences on space exploration.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, she responded to a question about how India appeared from space and the possibility of collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Keep ReadingShow less
british-muslims-iStock

The study noted that this identification was not due to any doctrinal obligation but was influenced by the perception that many Muslims do not feel fully accepted as British. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Majority of British Muslims identify by faith first, study finds

A STUDY by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL) has found that most British Muslims identify primarily with their religion rather than their nationality.

The research, based on a survey of 815 British Muslim adults by Whitestone Insight, revealed that 71 per cent of respondents identified as Muslim first, while 27 per cent identified as British, English, or Scottish first.

Keep ReadingShow less
Car Tax Changes: EV Owners Now Required to Pay for the First Time

Owners of electric vehicles registered on or after 1 April 2025 will pay £10 for the first year, followed by the standard VED rate of £195 from the second year. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Car tax changes take effect: EV owners to pay for first time

FROM today, 1 April 2025, electric cars, vans, and motorcycles in the UK will be subject to Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for the first time.

The change, introduced in the 2022 Autumn Statement by former Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, aims to make motoring taxation fairer.

Keep ReadingShow less
scotland-minimum-wages-iStock

Full-time workers on the National Living Wage will receive an annual pay increase of £1,400 in real terms. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Wage increase takes effect for thousands of workers in Scotland

HUNDREDS of thousands of workers in Scotland will see a pay increase as new National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates take effect from Tuesday.

The changes will benefit approximately 220,000 people, according to STV News.

Keep ReadingShow less
uk-energy-bill-iStock

Water bills, energy prices, and council tax are rising, while the minimum wage has also increased (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

April bill increases put financial strain on single parents

A RANGE of essential household bills are increasing from April, with Citizens Advice warning that single parents will be among the hardest hit.

Water bills, energy prices, and council tax are rising, while the minimum wage has also increased, BBC reported.

Keep ReadingShow less