The New York Times published an article on September 21, 2021, with the following headline: "The World Is At War With Covid. Covid Is Winning." Here is one of the points made, quite forcefully, in the article:
If countries commit to a global vision for vaccination and if they work together toward its realization, it’s possible the vast inequities of today will be avoided next time around. If individualism is allowed to prevail instead, the world’s resources will only grow more concentrated, and the world’s poorest nations will continue to be left out.
That the poorest nations are being left out, as the richest nations protect themselves from the current pandemic, is not really "news." That's more or less business as usual.
In fact, the article actually makes another point, and a much more important one. Perhaps it is a point that those with "self-interest" as their main motivator in life will think about.
If "individualism" is the way we think about the world, and our relation to it, then it is natural for individual persons, and individual nations, to care about themselves first. "Vast inequities" may be regrettable, but they aren't really very bothersome. That's just the way it goes. That's the nature of things.
If, however, we could get our mind around the idea that we are living in this world "together," and that we are not just a collection of individuals, then we would realize that OUR fate is connected to the fate of the entire world - to the fate of every other person, and to the fate of every other nation.
With respect to pandemic diseases, that is, in fact, the way things actually are! As Covid shows us, we are in this world together.
Let's start acting as if we understood that!
Image Credits:
(1) - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/opinion/sunday/covid-vaccine-world.html
(2) - https://furhhdl.org/about-us/the-foundation/
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