World COVID prevention needs Canada’s help

By Letter to the Editor on November 13, 2020.

Dear Editor,

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief public health officer, recently announced that, “This pandemic has demonstrated that inequities in our society place some populations – and ultimately, all Canadians at risk. No one is protected from the risk of COVID-19 until everyone is protected.”

This doesn’t mean only within Canada: as long as the virus circulates, it can return as quickly as it first arrived, and so those nations that cannot afford to battle the virus on their own need help. The World Health Organization has suggested rich countries provide just 1 per cent of their total COVID-19 expenditures to defeat COVID-19 everywhere.

The most recent studies suggest that COVID-19 immunity lasts less than six months; unless Canada steps up with our 1 per cent share of funding, COVID-19 will return again and again, an outcome costing far more than the current 1 per cent request.

Tracy Koebel

Victoria BC

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