Pope OKs Canada trip to help healing with Indigenous peoples; popes get third shot
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis has agreed to visit Canada to help ongoing efforts at reconciliation with Indigenous peoples following shocking revelations of the Catholic church’s role in the abuse and deaths of thousands of native children, the Vatican said on Wednesday. In a brief statement, the Holy See’s press office said that the Canadian Conference […]
African Union to buy up to 110 million Moderna COVID-19 vaccines – officials
Washington DC, USReuters The African Union intends to buy up to 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc in an arrangement brokered in part by the White House, which will defer delivery of some doses intended for the United States to facilitate the deal, officials told Reuters. The AU’s doses will be delivered […]
The Long Read: Gender gap emerges in Africa’s vaccines
KRISTA LARSON and MARIA CHENG, of Associated Press, report on how vaccine hesitancy, including among women of childbearing age, is leading to a stark gender disparity resulting in African women being the least vaccinated population in the world…
Amid global vaccine inequality, Vatican weighs ethics of booster shots
Vatican CityRNS While Catholic US President Joe Biden received his third shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, experts at the Vatican on Tuesday considered the ethics of such “booster shot” distribution in wealthy countries when many in other parts of the world have yet to receive the first dose. Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who heads the Pontifical […]
UN chief, UK PM increase pressure on leaders for climate change funds
United Nations/Washington DC, USReuters UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged leaders of the world’s major economies including the United States to deliver on their commitments toward a $US100 billion per year climate fund with less than six weeks to go before a UN climate summit. Johnson and UN Secretary-General António Guterres hosted a roundtable of […]
World leaders return to UN with focus on pandemic, climate
United NationsReuters World leaders are returning to the United Nations in New York this week with a focus on boosting efforts to fight both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which last year forced them to send video statements for the annual gathering. As the coronavirus still rages amid an inequitable vaccine rollout, about a […]
COVID-19 vaccination passports spark mixed reactions among Australian Christians
Sydney, Australia With Australians continuing to flock to be vaccinated against COVID-19, talk of COVID-19 vaccination passports have sparked mixed reactions from Christians and church leaders. While more than 2,500 church leaders and around 21,000 members and attendees from major Protestant denominations have a petition sent to Prime Minister Scott Morrison which warns the introduction […]
Locked-up and fed-up: Australian voters put Prime Minister on notice
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Kathy Chalker, a Sydney art studio owner, is just the sort of voter Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison needs to win the country’s next election – a long-time conservative party supporter with a small business in a swing seat. But Chalker has already decided to vote Morrison out. With her business closed indefinitely […]
“Ticket to work”: Indian state brings vaccines to migrant workers’ doorstep
ROLI SRIVASTAVA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on moves to ensure migrant workers have access to COVID-19 vaccines in Kerala…
Russell Moore: Sickness, death from COVID-19 likely reducing some vaccine hesitancy
RNS Russell Moore, Southern Baptist ethicist-turned-public theologian, said that knowing people who became seriously ill or died from COVID-19 may be causing some vaccine-hesitant individuals to change their minds. “One of the things, I think, that is moving the needle a little bit, more than anything else, is the experience of seeing great suffering,” he […]