#26 A fair share?
19 March 2021
Winners Announced!
Thank you for such fantastic entries this week! There was a wide range of opinions about the best strategies and a strong sense of duty to help those less fortunate than us.
Our first winner this week is impartial_shark of Boutcher Primary School, who linked their answer to the other challenges that lesser-developed countries are facing, such as extreme weather.
Our second winner is careful_science of Faringdon Community College, who were very efficient with their words and made several points succintly and effectively.
Well done to the both of you, and for everyone for entering!
People around the world are being vaccinated against covid-19. However, whilst some countries' governments have ordered more vaccines than they need, others can’t afford enough.
France's President, Emmanuel Macron, has said richer countries, like the UK, should send 5% of their vaccines to poorer countries.
This means for every 100 jabs a rich country buys, five of them would be given to a country in need.
Your challenge this week is to suggest how covid-19 vaccines should be shared between countries. Should rich countries give away 5% of their vaccines? Or would a different amount be fairer?
Don’t forget to share your reasons.
CHALLENGE: who might agree/disagree with your decision?
Need some help to get going? Use this sentence starter:
I think rich countries should give X% of their vaccines to countries in need because… (insert reason here).
The deadline for entries is Friday March 19th at midday. PLEASE ENTER ONLY ONCE and make sure your work is your own. Good luck!
Comments (21)
In my opinion, I think rich countries should give away 15% of their vaccines to countries in need because I think 5% is a bit too small because the population of poor people are far too great. Also, To get rid of Covid-19 the whole world would have to be vaccinated but it would not work if only the rich countries population gets vaccinated. Another thing is, Rich people have the money to buy or make more vaccines while the poor countries don't. Some rich countries even have bought more vaccines than they actually need so it would make sense to give some vaccines to poorer countries. This is the reason why we need rich countries to give some of their excess vaccines to poorer countries who cannot afford them. So I think 15% is about right.
I think rich countries should give at lest 10% of their vaccines to poorer countries or at lest try to offer help and support because during this hard time, everyone has lost a great amount of money and because poorer countries do not have the resources and have probably hit the bottom of rock bottom, they will need help. Poorer countries have been more likely to have rapidly changing climate which involves extreme weather patterns. This means that not only will the government of poorer countries have to pay workers and parents AND use the last of their hard earnt money to pay for the damages that natural disasters have caused, but they will have to also pay for covid relief packages, vaccines and tests.
I think rich countries should give or fund at least 15% of there vaccines to counties in need due to the fact that in less developed countries, the more chance a virus could spread and develop. Also, as they are poorer and can't afford the vaccine, giving away some or funding some is the best way to keep the whole world covid safe. This would mean that it is in not only the poorer countries benefit but also the richer countries. As well as this, it will also show the rich country in a better light which would be a benefit for the governments popularity. In conclusion I think that giving away some vaccines is a great idea!
Hi shining_journalist here🤠and this is my entry for the competition!
I think rich countries should give 50% of their vaccines to countries in need because the whole world is suffering from this virus and also their many countries that their hygiene might not be the best type due to financial issues that they might face I also think that sometimes maybe in poor countries the virus can catch to many people easily so it’s best that the rich countries(uk)should give their vaccines to the many poor countries in the world.
Another reason is that millions upon millions of lives has been lost due to this virus and should we risk of having more lives being lost all because of a virus? I we shouldn’t also giving vaccines and it will help vulnerable people like the elderly ones and the ones with a disease.
Pregnant women can’t get the vaccine but if you get the vaccine you are helping them so then they are not going to get the virus/ any symptoms.Many people have died of this disease and the vaccine will play a important role in the pandemic.
Thank you for reading😃🤓
-shining_journalist!
Thanks for such a detailed plan! It is believed around two and a half million lives have been lost to the virus, shining_journalist - it's good to always use more precise figures if we can.
I think a rich country should give a different amount of vaccines to poorer countries depending on their story.
For example, if a country is poor because of little resources, they should probably get around 15% (15 for every 100 vaccines) because it’s not their fault they live in a hard environment.
In another instance, if a rich country just lost money unluckily (such as thieves, no one choosing their products or sudden problem which needs lots off attention and money) then another rich country should only pay 3% because it’s not fair someone pays someone for sudden unluckiness. It’s just like a friend buying you an ice cream when you suddenly drop it. It’s not fair on your friend to buy another ice cream for you, except in the real world you already have the money to buy the “ice cream”.
I think rich countries should give an equal amount of vaccines to countries in need because the whole world has been going through this time lately. Countries in need without any vaccines would be in total risk of dying and those who can't afford to book for a vaccine of their choice e.g Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna and it wouldn't be fair on the rich countries to be able to afford them than the poor people would.
I think that rich countries should give 20% of The vaccine to poorer countries because it is not fair that Poor countries to died because of the greed of Richter countries.
I think that rich country Should at least give a decent amount of vaccines to any poor countries around the world for example 20%
I know this might seem a lot of vaccines but it’s for our own health and safety imagine if a country didn’t have any vaccines and they were travelling to allsorts of countries in the world to try and get a vaccine and let’s say they had the coronavirus they could be spreading more and more which could infect more people they have not taken the vaccine
Also as here in the UK I believe that more vaccines will be produced more and more later on in the month is coming so it’s better to give a decent amount of vaccines to the four countries so then they can develop and then all the rich countries later on and get the rest of their vaccines .
The type of vaccines that I think that should be sent to countries are the Oxford vaccines this is why because I think that the Oxford vaccine is a more easier to store and like the Pfizer vaccine and it’s more easier to give the poor countries the Oxford vaccine so they get a more quicker and it’s not a huge problem.
So this is why I think you are rich countries that at least give 20% of their vaccines to other countries that are poor and cannot afford the vcccines
eager_reflection here,
I think that rich countries should give 5% of their vaccines to countries in need because there are many richer countries who have bought too many doses, so they should deserve to give a small amount of them to countries who need it. Also, there are many countries who have bought extra doses, so the poorer countries should be able to get enough doses to eventually vaccinate the population. Furthermore, I think that the coronavirus will keep changing and mutating, so richer countries should save more vaccines to give booster jabs in the future. Once we have vaccinated the UK population, we can give a bigger percentage (such as 10 or 15%) to poorer countries . We need to cooperate with the whole world to vaccinate or we may not be able to control the virus.
Thanks for reading.
I think some richer countries should give 15%.This is because I think 5% is to less and 20% is to much.Poorer countries don’t have that many vaccines and we are supposed to fight corona together.Even if richer countries buy more then they need,what is the point?They are hoarding valuable resources.If you don’t need this much then what are you going to do with them.This is a bit like the tissue problem.If we are not going to be in this together,then we can’t fight it.
I think some richer countries should give 10% because more then that wouldn't be fair because at the moment we should attempt to save countries with larger population as coronavirus spreads quicker where there are people with larger populations. Also, we should save our heroes first and enjoy the growing off the tighter restrictions before them. Although, I feel that it can't be less then that because it isn't fair if many of our goverments are much bigger then others. The more vaccines we provide, the more help we bring
I think it will be fair to give 50% of the coronavirus vaccine because England is a rich country and everybody needs help during this time of agony because more of the world's population will die and less trading ports will exist and Britain will become poor. Although it is a good deal, I think Boris Johnson will say no because he wants a rich economy and he doesn't care. As long as England is rich, he is fine. Emmanuel Macron will agree with me because he is the main person protesting in this campaign.
By dedicated_starfruit
I think that rich countries should give 50% of their vaccines beacause we all have lots and lots of vaccines and half of our populatuion have been vaccinated and if we give the rest of the half , we would still have loads of money to create lost more for ourselves. Poor countries do not have the effort to help all of their nation and need support espiacially during this time. This is because due to less money , hygeine and masks may be difficult and there are lost of people in poor countries. How will they fufil their needs? Who will support ? It's us who will support. We have loads of money and if we can make ourselves loads , why cannot we share with others? We are all in this together and we need to help each other. Poor countries do not have the ability to keep hygeine higher due to financial issues and they have debt on themseleves because of taking loans. If this is happened , then how are they able to fufil the needs for the virus to end? We should share because the whole world is suffering in the virus and poor countries are in risk of getting the virus more easily. It is God's mercy that the virus is less for poor countries because God knows that they will suffer. Even though , this has happned , they still need the vaccine because vunerable people and sick people need this as well. Many people have died in poor countries just because of the virus? This is why we need to give 50% of our vaccines to poor countries as 5% is very , very less.
By glorious_lynx
I'm not sure that it's true that "the virus is less for poor countries", glorious_lynx. Do you have a source that could prove this?
On Google , its says that Pakistan has 2351 cases and 61 more deaths today and Pakistan is a poor country. Whereas in the UK , 5294 more cases have been brought up today and 110 more deaths have been put up.
Thank you for doing your research, glorious_lynx. But can one example prove that "the virus is less for poor countries" in general?
No , but I can provide more examples and proof when I get back from school.
I believe rich countries like the UK should at least give 5-10% of their vaccines too the more poor countries. I think this because we should help other countries that are struggling in these times and that can't afford to support their citizens throughout Covid-19. If we support them we could be able to save their economies and their people, which play a big part in paying taxes to support the government in fighting Covid-19 .
I don't think richer countries should give anymore than 5-10% of their vaccines to other countries for the reason that most of the richer countries become wealthy due to a increasing population like China. With an a population increasing by the second, it would be very hard to contain Covid-19 therefore spreading it throughout the country. With this issue they would be in need of millions of vaccines but they might be short on vaccines to support the whole country if they gave anymore than the suitable amount, which in my opinion is 5-10% of their vaccines to other countries.
comfortable_chemistry
What if a poor country has a large population, comfortable_chemistry?
I think rich countries should give 50% of their vaccines to countries in need because it is not fair that privileged and rich countries get vaccines and other poorer parts of the world don't. Everyone is affected by Covid-19 - not just rich countries. If mostly rich countries get the vaccine, it is depriving people of a chance to live because they don't have money, which is often not their fault.
Sceptical_rainforest
In my opinion, I believe that richer countries shouldn't be forced to give money to the LIC ( low income countries) because it is not fair that we should have to pay just because we were faster to develop machinery back in the industrial revolution. I do understand that some poorer countries really suffer, and that because they are poor things are dirty and viruses can spread more easily. However looking from a different point of view, we shouldn't be forced to pay. I think it should be made a choice by HIC's whether they want to help or not.
From another view, I think that HIC's should donate a small percentage of vaccines at least, probably around 2-3%. This would mean they have some help. Also, we have got to remember that it wouldn't just be UK donating. Lots of other HIC's would donate as well, meaning they would have a lot more than just 3%. This is my opinion on this subject, thanks for reading!
Do you know the reasons why some countries developed faster than others? Do you think it's important to find this out, before we then say what's fair / not fair in the modern day?
I think some richer countries should give 10% because it’s not fair that only some countries should have to suffer by covid more than richer countries who have the money to pay for vaccines, especially as some poorer countries have a large population. If each rich country gave 10%, poorer countries could save lots of people which would also stop covid from spreading all over the world. We would also be supporting and helping others which would also help us end covid. If we didn’t give 10%, we would lose many innocent lives across the world. Would you really want that?
I think rich countries should give 16% of their vaccines to countries in need because they have less money and if there economy is barely surviving we have to give an amount that isn't to generous but we should not just hoard the vaccine to ourselves .
I don't think I can say how many vaccines rich countries to give to others. If rich countries give 10% and still not everyone get the vaccine, what is the point? Maybe it is better if rich countries add their money together to pay for all the vaccines for the world so everyone can get it.
Thank you for reading!
I think that richer countries, such as the UK, should give 5% of their COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries. The richer countries are buying more vaccines then they need which could create split in opinions as to whether or not the richer countries should give 5% of their vaccines to poorer countries and this could cause people to not trust the government or to think that they don’t want COVID-19 to go away. The whole world is suffering from the virus and by sharing the vaccines they are curing the risk of spreading the disease and the disease will cease to exist quicker. This would also have a good impact on the richer countries as it would give the country a good image and it will open the richer countries up to more tourists or benefits as well as benefiting the government and making their words more important. Poorer countries don’t have the resources to buy more vaccines than they can afford and the richer countries can which means that their resources could help defeat COVID-19. Many people won’t agree with my decision: like the people who will have to wait longer to get their vaccine and the people who believe that the vaccines don’t work will want the richer countries to use their money on something that will affect the whole of the richer country but in the end everyone will be able to put this pandemic behind them, also “sharing is caring”.
I think that a rich country should give 15%, as if the poorer countries are led to having to be afflicted with coronavirus, and without a cure for everyone. Because rich countries can sometimes have a larger population, they need quite a lot, but people shouldn't miss out on the fact that there are still some people out there at risk. 75% is quite a fair number for the them, as they get a lot, and if there are some of them left over, they can maybe take them back. Therefore, this would be good for both sides.
A controversial argument for this is that if more than one country are all sending vaccines to the same place, then they could have too much and might waste some of the things that could have altered a few people's history. Also, there could be not enough for the poorer country, or even the richer one.
Thank you.
reflective_artic_fox