300 scientists say wealthy nations have failed to provide vaccines to the rest of the world

In a letter to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a group of 300 scientists said wealthy nations have failed to give the rest of the world access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The letter noted that this failure is a “reckless approach to public health,” which results in prime conditions for the rise of new variants.

The authors of the letter also said that Britain’s people as well as the National Health Service have been placed at a higher risk because of Britain’s global vaccination policy.

It was also reported that the letter encourages Britain to support the waiver of intellectual property rights for coronavirus vaccines, tests, and other treatments. Doing so would make those things more accessible and less expensive for countries who have not had equal access. 

Those who signed the letter included a Nobel prize winner as well as a former National Health Service chief executive. To date, three billion people in the world have not gotten any doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Currently coronavirus cases are soaring in many countries, with more than 100,000 daily cases of the illness reported in Russia for the first time this Saturday. The surge has been driven primarily by the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant, although the newest variant has been less severe and less deadly than earlier iterations.

A curfew was lifted for the weekend in New Delhi, India, allowing restaurants, markets, and theaters to temporarily reopen at half their typical capacity.

The capital city has been one of the hardest hit areas as a third wave of infections is running through the country. The curfew had been instituted on January 4 and ordered that all schools and restaurants close their doors.