As new coronavirus cases surge across India, overwhelming hospitals and crematories, calls are growing louder for wealthy countries to stop hoarding excess supply of COVID-19 vaccines and to loosen intellectual property restrictions preventing more countries from making their own vaccines. We speak with economist Jayati Ghosh and Congressmember Ro Khanna of California.
the catastrophe in India, I would say right now, is actually a man-made catastrophe, because it really reflects a government that had become casual, irresponsible and, in fact, actively engaged in superspreader events. We have had, as was mentioned earlier, massive gatherings, political rallies, addressed by the prime minister and other political leaders, in which all guidelines were flouted.
We have had the bringing forward by a full year of a very major Hindu festival on the banks of the Ganges, at which 4 million people participated over the course of three weeks, which, again, is a huge superspreader. And we haven’t even seen
— source democracynow.org | Apr 29, 2021