Greta Thunberg will not go if vaccination nationalism continues

LONDON – Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has said she will not attend the high-profile UN Climate Change Summit if current vaccination trends continue.

Thunberg tweeted Friday morning in response to a BBC report saying she had “no plans” to attend the summit, known as COP26, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland in November.

“Of course I would like to attend COP26 in Glasgow. But not unless everyone can participate on the same terms,” ​​Thunberg tweeted.

She argued that many countries vaccinated “healthy youth” against Covid-19 at the expense of higher-risk groups and front-line workers in other countries.

Thurberg said inequality was already at the heart of the climate crisis, adding that if people couldn’t get vaccinated and travel to the top to be equally represented, it would be “undemocratic”.

“Vaccinationalism will not solve the pandemic,” Thunberg said, arguing that “global problems need global solutions.”

High-income countries have been accused of vaccination nationalism for purchasing more than 4.6 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, according to data released in March by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center. In comparison, low-income countries have only received 670 million doses of the vaccines.

Thunberg also said in her Twitter thread that even if the COP26 summit had to be postponed due to the pandemic, it “does not mean delaying the urgent action needed” on climate change.

Sky News reported last week that the summit could be postponed a second time due to the pandemic.

“We don’t have to wait for conferences, nobody or anything else to drastically reduce our emissions,” said Thunberg.

At the same time, the activist said a virtual conference would be “far from optimal”, given the lack of superfast internet and computer access in certain parts of the world, which would also limit equal representation at the summit.