The corona pandemic is not just a health hazard. While a few have been able to increase their wealth, the struggle for survival has become even tougher for a large majority. But rescue is at hand – at least for some.
When we in Germany talk about the end of the pandemic, the question is, for example, when we can again be carried away by thousands of people crowded together in front of a stage at a festival. When we can enjoy our favorite menu in our favorite restaurant without proof of testing and without plexiglass panes. Or when life can simply take place as freely and spontaneously as before the 2020s. The pandemic debate in the “Western world” is often characterized by luxury issues that part of the population cannot afford.
As early as spring 2020, it quickly became clear: the pandemic is the icing on the cake of the existing social injustices. Those who were at risk of poverty before the pandemic are all the more so now. This is what researchers write in their annual social report for the year 2021. Households that have already slipped below the poverty line and belong to the lower educational and income groups are more likely to be affected by leave and unemployment. If, on the other hand, their jobs were considered secure, the home office, which was classified as safe for infection protection reasons, was impossible for them. Only 24 percent from the lower income group were able to switch to the home office, writes the Federal Institute for Population Research. In contrast, 51 percent from the highest income group benefited from flexible working hours within their own four walls.
A financial divide also opened up: 17 percent of unskilled workers and 14 percent of low-level employees report financial difficulties. The proportion was lowest among civil servants. Here, only between two and three percent complained about financial worries. The situation for single parents was also precarious. Here 25 percent were affected by financial bottlenecks.
It is well known that the social milieu affects the educational opportunities of children and young people. The pandemic has made that clear again. Especially in times of lockdown, when schools had to close and lessons had to take place digitally, it became apparent how much material conditions influence educational opportunities. Children from families with a net household income of between 5,000 and 18,000 euros per month usually had an average of four PCs. On the other hand, households living on less than 2,000 euros a month had an average of two devices at their disposal. In addition to material resources, the level of education of the parents also plays a role. Studies have also shown that On average, children from educationally disadvantaged households spend less time with schoolwork spent as classmates from educated milieus.
Lockdown means work
Despite all the grievances that have opened up and aggravated in Germany as a result of Corona in the past two years, a look abroad shows that, despite the sluggish pace of vaccination, a lack of testing capacities and a strained health system, there is much more going on in Germany than elsewhere. While school lessons could be continued as far as possible, the pandemic for children in India meant the end of their school careers. The day laborers in the slums suffered particularly badly from the lockdown. Because life in the country, like in so many places in the world, suddenly came to a standstill, they lost their jobs. It was barely enough to make a living. As a result, many were forced to send their children to work.
This is what happened to ten-year-old Shekh Zahid. When the schools closed, the fourth grader went to work. His family sent him to Delhi to live with an uncle who was already a rag picker. Shek earns 150 rupees a day by collecting recyclable material from the landfill. In addition to the precarious working conditions, people also suffer from the housing situation. In the slums around the metropolitan areas of Delhi and Mumbai, people live in makeshift shacks made of corrugated iron – tightly packed. Hygiene and distance to the next person are as good as impossible there, so the conditions for the spread of the corona virus are optimal.
In addition, the Oxfam organization complained about “structural economic violence, with sometimes fatal consequences.” At least 13 million women lost jobs and income in the course of the pandemic. In the first year of the pandemic alone, their losses amounted to at least 800 billion dollars (around 700 billion euros). In addition, more than 20 million girls “never go to school again” and “at least 15,000 people die every day because they are denied adequate medical care”. The organization criticizes that people with low incomes also have a lower life expectancy than wealthy people.
Unfair vaccine distribution
According to the current state of knowledge, vaccination could at least limit the spread of the virus and reduce the risk of serious illnesses and death. Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign in India is progressing because the country has developed its own vaccine. The situation is different in Africa. Just under ten percent of the total population there are vaccinated. The reason is the vaccine shortage. Many countries cannot raise the money for this. Elsewhere, the government lacks the will to spend the money to protect the population. Human Rights Watch reports that Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has received a $3.4 billion Covid-19 aid package from the International Monetary Fund. “However, it is unclear how these funds were spent,” writes the organization.
The unequal distribution of the vaccine is also reflected in the worldwide vaccination rate. Statistics from “Our World in Data” according to only 60 percent worldwide are simply vaccinated. In low-income countries it is only nine percent. The United Arab Emirates (99 percent) currently have the highest vaccination rate, while Nigeria and Ethiopia currently have the lowest rate. Oxfam criticizes the unfair vaccine distribution: “Millions of people who could have been saved died from the pandemic and its consequences because of the unfair vaccine distribution.” The vaccines should be treated as a public good, partly because governments have funded their development with large amounts of tax money.
Gold rush of the super rich
From the organization’s point of view, the pandemic has also significantly increased the wealth gap. According to a report, while the wealth of the top 10 billionaires has doubled, more than 160 million people live in poverty. The trend also applies to Germany.
“For billionaires, the pandemic is like a gold rush. Governments have pumped billions into the economy, but much of it has stuck with people who stand to benefit most from rising stock prices. While their wealth is growing at an unprecedented rate and some are taking trips into space, has global poverty has increased drastically,” says Manuel Schmitt, consultant for social inequality at Oxfam Germany. Oxfam is therefore calling on governments worldwide to tax corporations and the super-rich more heavily to finance basic social services, to ensure global vaccination justice and to align the economy with the common good.
Millionaires are in favor of a tax on the wealthy
The recent criticism seems to be working. The groups Patriotic Millionaires, Millionaires for Humanity and Tax Me Now have addressed governments in an open letter. In it, over 100 millionaires call for a permanent annual wealth tax for the richest. One shows that taxation can help Fight Inequality Alliance analysis with the Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and the Patriotic Millionaires. A wealth tax that starts at 2 percent annually for millionaires and increases to 5 percent annually for billionaires could generate $2.52 trillion a year worldwide. The analysis was therefore presented by the
This sum is enough to lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty, to ensure universal health care and social protection for 3.6 billion people in poorer countries – and to produce enough corona vaccines for the entire world population.
Patent-free vaccine against unfair vaccine distribution
The international vaccine program Covax recently passed the billion mark in the delivery of corona vaccine doses. The milestone was announced by Gavi, the vaccination alliance of governments, companies, foundations and UN organizations that implements the Covax program. They mainly supply poor countries that cannot afford the vaccines. According to the information, Covax has now supplied 144 countries.
The program has stolen more than $10 billion in donations. The goal of vaccinating 40 percent of the population in every country in the world by the end of 2021 had been missed in several dozen countries. By the middle of the year, 70 percent of the people in all countries should have been vaccinated.
A new vaccine from the United States could be helpful. US researchers have developed a vaccine that is considered safe, effective and cheap. “Easy to scale up to billion doses, easy cooling, excellent safety profile,” praised Peter Hotez of the Children’s Hospital and Center for Vaccine Manufacturing in Texas. He himself was involved in the production.
The vaccine, named “Corbevax”, is to be made available without a patent. The active ingredient is already being produced in India. It is a protein-based vaccine. The protein contained therein from the surface of the coronavirus is produced by genetically modified yeast cells. One advantage is that the vaccine does not have to be frozen, but can even be stored at four degrees Celsius, said virologist Florian Krammer from the Icahn School of Medicine to the broadcaster ORF.
India granted emergency use authorization to the vaccine back in December last year. However, clinical data on its effectiveness are not yet available. For this, the states have to rely on the information provided by the manufacturers. However, initial comparative studies with Corbevax and Astrazeneca attest that the new vaccine is more effective against the virus variants from Wuhan and Delta. The effect against omicron has yet to be investigated. Botswana, Indonesia and Bangladesh have also received the production recipe. A laboratory in South Africa is also currently working on a new mRNA vaccine for poor countries. However, the drug should not be ready for the market until 2024.
Sources: With material from DPA and AFP, Federal Institute for Population Research, Social report for the Federal Republic of Germany 2021, Oxfam, Our World in Data, UNDP, “Research & Teaching“, ORF, Human Rights Watch, World Bank