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We look at the push to end what the World Health Organization is calling "vaccine apartheid," as many countries have yet to see a single COVID-19 vaccine shot amid mounting infections. "What we're looking for is an alternative to a system that has basically allowed for COVID-19 vaccines to be absolutely concentrated in the higher-income countries," says Carina Vance Mafla, former health minister of Ecuador, who co-chaired this weekend's emergency Summit on Vaccine Internationalism. She argues vaccine access can be improved by expanding vaccine "production in other countries ... that have developed vaccine candidates, but also having pricing that is based on solidarity." We also speak with Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil and South Africa. Prabhala says the pandemic is now "largely a developing country problem."

More than 2.6 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, but many countries have yet to see a single shot amid mounting infections. Eighty-five percent of vaccines administered worldwide have been in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Only 0.3% of doses have been administered in low-income countries. Last week, G7 nations pledged to donate just 613 million new vaccine doses — far less than the 1 billion originally promised. This was the focus of an emergency four-day virtual Summit for Vaccine Internationalism this weekend, attended by government ministers, parliamentarians and public health officials from many countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Vietnam, India, Greece, the United Kingdom, Canada and Cuba. The summit was organized by Progressive International, an organization founded by Senator Bernie Sanders and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. "This is how we radicalize the world in order to be able to end the patent monopoly of Big Pharma," says Varoufakis in his address, "so that there are no more patents that prevent people from access to pharmaceuticals … available in order to save lives."

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The Pulitzer Board really did choose not to award a Prize for the Editorial Cartooning category in 2021. Please support the work of political cartoonists here. * * * Perry Dorrell blogs as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, usually on topics concerning the strange brew of Texas politics. He's also on Twitter [...]

It's NICOLE SANDLER again filling in for Brad and Desi on today's BradCast. After an update on the latest news, I welcome a regular guest from the last decade, former Congressman DENNIS KUCINICH. He left Congress after 12 years in office back in January of 2013 after Ohio gerrymandered his district out of existence, and [...]

FEATURING TASNEEM ESSOP – The Group of 7, or G7 summit in Cornwall, England wrapped up on Sunday with Western leaders making effervescent pronouncements about global cooperation, sending warning signals to Russia and China, claiming a crackdown on global tax havens, and patting themselves on the back for taking bold action on climate change.  But climate...

FEATURING KHURY PETERSEN-SMITH – Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is in trouble once more for calling out American imperialism and daring to say out loud what most lawmakers refuse to say. In a recent tweet showcasing her questioning of State Secretary Antony Blinken during a House Foreign Affairs Committee, Omar said, “We must have the same...