The Baptist World Alliance hopes that world will choose to pursue equity and justice, especially for the most vulnerable
Dimapur, January 30 (MExN): The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has called for strong international cooperation to ensure that there is equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccinations as the global caseload surpassed the 100 million mark.
Acknowledging the solidarity shared by millions of people in the face of the suffering caused by the global pandemic, the BWA, a worldwide Christian communion spread over 126 countries and territories, called for the cooperation of governments to support systems of coordinated mass vaccination and enhance access to vaccinations through aid and economic innovations.
COVID-19 has exposed inequality
The BWA noted that inequality has been exposed in a multitude of ways during the COVID-19 pandemic and shone a light on the discrepancies that exist between different sectors of society. Stigma, failure to address other existing health concerns, and economic regression have followed, it added.
Stating that many countries struggle to address comprehensive testing and treatment of the virus, the BWA said that even in countries with excellent health systems, COVID-19 is still regularly claiming the lives of more than 2% of all reported infections.
“The slower the global rollout of the vaccine, the more lives will be lost. We know this will continue to cripple families, businesses, and societies around the world. No one should be stopped from accessing treatments or vaccines because of where they live, what they can afford, their race, or their convictions of faith and conscience,” it asserted.
‘Steps of justice’ for addressing global pandemic
The alliance meanwhile suggested six specific ‘steps of justice,’ that it said were necessary for equitable global access and a shared solidarity in addressing a global pandemic.
It called for strong international cooperation, specifically from government and private sector actors to support worldwide collective efforts to eradicate the pandemic and produce vaccines for all on a fair and equitable basis. It also underscored the need to identify steps through which global vaccination can avoid becoming “weaponized” for political, economic, and diplomatic leverage.
The BWA also condemned “vaccine nationalism” and called on the United States, including USA-based Baptists, to press for the United States to deliver on their intent to join COVAX, which is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and WHO, with the aim to accelerate development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable global access.
Calling on manufacturers to commit supplies to poorer nations and to supply vaccines at cost at least until the pandemic is over, it also called on faith leaders and governments to recognise the important role faith communities can play as civil society enablers, capable of mobilising people for vaccination and hosting vaccination hubs in their buildings and community gatherings.
“Moreover, as many unhelpful myths and misinformation abound in regard to COVID-19’s various vaccines, trusted faith leaders are also capable of dissuading these destructive narratives and building cooperation with national vaccination programs,” it added.
The BWA laid emphasis on collective support for research in preventing future pandemics and for research into limiting the adverse effects of the virus on an array of services in low and middle-income countries which includes the return to school of children who have been forced into child labour as schools have closed.
It also called on governments in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to enhance aid budgets to fight the pandemic globally, respond to its humanitarian impacts, and support recovery. “As poverty increases due to economic recession in most global economies, governments must maintain and increase international development cooperation budgets rather than restrict them in the face of domestic fiscal pressures,” it stated.
Further, the BWA urged Baptists globally to participate in enabling global vaccination and help in repudiating unhelpful narratives associated with mass vaccination.
“Together, we stand both in prayerful lament for all who have died and been negatively impacted, and in hopeful expectation that in the face of this global pandemic the world will choose to pursue equity and justice, especially for the most vulnerable,” the BWA stated.
The Baptist World Alliance is a worldwide Christian communion of 241 member bodies in 126 countries and territories representing 1,69,000 churches and 47 million direct members. This includes the BWA Forum for Aid and Development (BFAD), a network of aid agencies in every region of the world that annually invests in aid, relief, and community development.
