Although coronavirus vaccines offer humanity hope of controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, it is “vital” that immunizations are distributed universally, free of charge and without discrimination, otherwise no one will be truly safe from the disease. disease and it will especially affect the poorest and most vulnerable sectors.
This was indicated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which warned that the current effects of the pandemic “are only the beginning” and will continue to worsen during 2021, especially in areas such as the northern border of Mexico, where the continuous arrival of migrants could saturate the civil spaces to help this population.
During the presentation of the organization’s “2021 Humanitarian Balance”, the ICRC’s regional director for Mexico and Central America, Jordi Raich, pointed out that one of the main global challenges this year is to “tackle the pandemic” of Covid-19, and although “Vaccines are already here and are the great hope of humanity, it is vital that they be distributed universally, free of charge and without discrimination.”
The specialist stressed the importance of the biologicals being distributed to the most vulnerable sectors, including migrants, people deprived of liberty, victims of forced displacement and relatives of disappeared persons, otherwise Covid-19 it will become a “poor man’s disease”, like other ailments.
After emphasizing that “no one will be safe until we all are”, Raich regretted that 2020 was a year where a “cocktail of violence, discrimination, inequality and existing poverty” was generated, to which some natural disasters and the coronavirus pandemic, as part of a scenario that will not disappear in 2021.
“We are only just beginning to see the impact of Covid and, in a way, it is just the beginning. In 2020 humanity waited to see how things evolved, and in 2021 we discovered that they are not so different. This year we expect an increase in the number of displaced persons and migrants, and that is only the beginning: it will get worse as the year progresses ”, he warned.
Raich stressed that migrants leave their country “to survive”, although they must expose themselves to a route full of dangers and violence, and stressed that although countries have the right to define their policies in this matter, closing borders “may cause an accumulation of people on the northern border of Mexico, where shelters and health systems are already overwhelmed ”.
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