Richer countries must address ‘stark’ vaccine inequality
There is a “real need” to address the “stark and worrying” contrast between the level of vaccination in Ireland and the developing world, an aid worker returning from Africa said.
Gavin Douglas of Concern Worldwide saw first-hand the roll out of an EU-funded vaccination programme in Sierra Leone and Liberia, where fully vaccinated rates are about 5% and 20% respectively.
“The contrast between Ireland and a country like Sierra Leone when it comes to Covid-19 protection is stark and very worrying,” Mr Douglas said.
There is a “real need” for wealthier nations to help poorer parts of the world to get better protected against Covid-19.
“The connection between us and them is very real and we see that today with how Omicron has spread to our own neighbourhoods across Ireland,” he said.
“Landing in Dublin was like arriving in a totally different world. We are easily two years ahead of them as we try to get a third booster dose and as we begin to vaccinate children over five years old.”
We must remember these countries have “very fragile” health systems and “have struggled with even having enough masks and medical oxygen equipment”, he added.
‘Urgent need’ for one-bedroom housing, says McVerry Trust
There is an “urgent need” for one bedroom homes for people affected by homelessness according to the Peter McVerry Trust, as the number of people in homelessness rose to 9,099 in the last week of November 2021.
Pat Doyle CEO of the trust expressed disappointment that “the number of people in need of emergency accommodation continued to rise and we now see the figures above 9,000”.
Mr Doyle said the trust continues to “ramp up” delivery of new social housing opportunities to provide pathways out of homelessness for young people.
However, Mr Doyle warned that “we urgently need to secure more one-bedroom homes for people impacted by homelessness”. He appealed “to the owners of vacant or derelict properties to contact us to see how we can re-use those properties for social housing.
“We would also encourage the developers who are progressing small scale apartment schemes which contain one and two-bedroom apartments to make contact with us to see if we can acquire some of those units for social housing to help people exit homelessness,” Mr Doyle finished.