While the words B次元官网网址淏y the people, for the people,B次元官网网址� spoken by Abraham Lincoln in Gettysburg, were related to the cause of democracy, they sprang to my mind as I considered the international COVID-19 crisis.

Considering the fact that much of the funding for research towards finding a vaccine has been bankrolled B次元官网网址榖y the people,B次元官网网址� should it not be universally B次元官网网址榝or the people?B次元官网网址�

Perhaps I am idealistic, but if we could find our way to waiving trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, and if manufacturers around the world were able to ramp up production of the vaccine to ensure that everyone young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong, could be vaccinated, wouldnB次元官网网址檛 we all be safer?

Sure, Canada might lag behind other developed nations in immunizing our population, but let us not lose sight of the overall picture. The me-first approach to obtaining and stockpiling vaccines by the worldB次元官网网址檚 wealthiest countries, is not the answer. To bring this pandemic to an end, the majority of the world needs to be immunized.

Connie Lebeau

Victoria