The NZ Tribal Left went ballistic on Twitter this week after Selena Gomez asked if Jacinda would step up for a People’s Vaccine…
At the time of writing, Ardern had not replied to the 28-year-old pop star, but many Kiwis were quick to respond, with many pointing out Ardern had already taken action to ensure the vaccine would be available to New Zealand’s overseas neighbours.
“Selena. Our PM has this covered. Our govt has arranged vaccines for Pacific nations,” one irate tweet read.
“She’s already doing it,” said another.
“Yo girl! You do know that @jacindaardern and her government have already purchased enough vaccines to cover not only New Zealand but our Pacific neighbours?” a third asked, using the hashtag #onestepahead.
Another Twitter user suggested Gomez should “get her facts in order” before posting to her 65 million followers.
“In addition to the replies from NZ about providing for Pacific Nations, our PM, Jacinda Ardern has donated enough vaccine for 800,000 people via COVAX. Acknowledge this please,” they wrote.
…blah blah blah.
What of course none of the tribal left bothered to ask was if Selena is right, which sadly she is.
Sure, NZ has purchased enough vaccine to help our Pacific Neighbours, but what we have refused to do is demand the Pharmaceutical Industry lift its patents for poor countries…
Advocates for a ‘people’s vaccine’ to fight the COVID-19 pandemic are disappointed New Zealand won’t be offering its support.
Developing countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) and a number of NGOs like Oxfam and Amnesty International are calling on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to loosen intellectual property (IP) rules so production of vaccines can be ramped up.
They say rich nations are using their wealth to buy up all the available vaccines – Canada for example has purchased enough to vaccinate its population five times over. India and South Africa have asked the WTO to waive patent rights, allowing cheap generic versions of vaccines to be made without fear of breaking international trade agreements.
Peter Crabtree, chair of New Zealand’s COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy Taskforce, told Newshubsaid while New Zealand is “strongly committed to global equitable access of COVID-19 vaccines”, it won’t be supporting the motion.
…this despite the fact that 42 groups and respected experts have called on the PM to back the ‘Peoples’ Vaccine’.
So sure, we are looking after 800 000 others, but we are refusing to step up against the Pharmaceutical Industry and their IP laws.
Selena is right.
No I don’t think Gomez has any right to challenge our PM, she should stick to acting. I think we need to look after our PI whanau before we help any other countries starting with getting our bubble going to help with there bad economic situation. If our Cook Island whanau need help to get the bubble rolling we need to act now by helping them to put the necessary measures in place. We can’t tell some of the bigger countries what to do, some have held massive religious festivities and even elections and these actions have exacerbated the Covid problem. Many other countries have been reluctant to implement lock downs and some have carried on with business as usual. Unfortunately the Covid has shown up the poor leadership in some countries and again this is something we as a very small nation have no control over.
Its not about Gomez its about making the vaccines freely available to the majority of the poor who will miss out if the IP is not waived. If Jacinda cannot be bothered to back that demand it shows she is a shill for big pharma profiteering from a pandemic at the cost of the lives of millions.
She’s actually projecting cos her and half her mates like demi lovato and Taylor and their squads have been caught at plague spreading covid parties in la noone should be taking lectures from celebrities on anything
Secondly she probably has more influence than nz ever could on this we’re in a small insignificant country. We can’t influence big pharma they’d sooner let us die. We’re internationally irrelevant other than as a lab and Jacinda is beloved but has no power or influence overseas. Selena does she could get her idiot fans to protest.
Nz i
Unless we get a patient free vaccine that covers everyone, and soon.
Look out for Covid to swing it’s ugly mutating act into overdrive and be much, much worse.
Thank you Selena, for pointing out the weakness of the current leadership globally worshipping at the alter of neoliberlism.
Greed is what will kill us all, greed.
We are making the vaccines available to poor countries dave we don’t need Gomez to tell us what we need to do she needs to tell the South American leaders to pull their heads in as they are the ones not looking after their own people. We can’t save the world we have to save ourselves first and then help others when we are in a position to do so.
Intellectual property rights are just a crock of shit really, everything can be hacked, including a brain. We have no laws or attempts to formulate laws on the most sketchy of ‘scientific’ procedures such as gene manipulation, human cloning, transplantation (if you really want to be sick check out the work of RJ White), Genetically Modified Organisms (which you can’t eat) etc etc etc.
All scientific work is built on the backs of others’ (eg: Crick and Watson stealing Rosalind Franklin’s DNA photographs) just as all artistic work is influenced by the works of other artists.
Being brainy and innovative and well paid doesn’t necessarily guarantee humanity.
It was nice to see Dr Siouxie Willis awarded ‘New Zealander of the Year’.
Gomez wouldn’t know if her arse was on fire. What is she best known for? Her soap opera with Justin Beiber or her fluffy pointless music? So many of these “stars” spend too much time reading fan mail and mistakenly believe they are the person to change the world. Do me a favour FFS.
I don’t even know who Gomez is and i don’t care if her arse is on fire or not. The point that is being made, though, is that NZ does not have to spend money, it just needs to support a motion to allow poor countries to make their own vaccines. Not only would this save a lot of suffering, but it would help keep us safe from new and more virulent forms of covid. Why won’t NZ do this? Someone is leaning on us (along with pretty much all first world countries) at the behest of big pharma. We know which powerful nation always advocates for these companies, but why are we letting them vote against our own, and the world’s, best interest?
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