WHO Urges the Countries to Stall the Administering of Unnecessary Booster Vaccines

Even though our world collectively continues to be shaped by COVID-19, the impact of the virus on international communities has been quite different. As the United States continues to administer third booster vaccines for healthy citizens, inoculations across Africa are far from where they should be. The World Health Organization called attention to this issue, essentially labeling it immoral for countries with an abundance of vaccines to provide healthy people with their booster shot. Africa does not currently have the means to manufacture its own vaccines, so it must rely on buying or receiving donated vaccines from other continents like our own. For those in countries like the USA who do need a booster shot for health purposes, the World Health Organization deems it moral. This conflict raises many questions like: is it the responsibility of other countries to give their vaccines to countries with low vaccination rates? Who gets to make these kinds of decisions for the international community? Because it is an issue of ethical or moral awareness, will countries really feel pressured to act on these grounds? In response to this, the United States has yet to act differently. This inaction causes one to consider the ways in which large international powers pick and choose when and when not to act on the advise of large international organizations like the WHO.

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Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Robert George Equip the Poly Community with the Tools to Combat Groupthink and Engage in Productive Discourse

T his evening, Poly students, Jason Mayo, Megan Ha and Opal Hetherington impressively facilitated a hugely impactful conversation with Drs. Cornel West and Robert George. In our current sociopolitical climate, our Poly community will certainly benefit from what we collectively learned tonight. Despite their diverging ideological and political viewpoints, the two intellects’ relationship “extends beyond friendship and into brotherhood.” "Love is not reducible to politics or public policy," shared Dr. George at the beginning of the program. To me, this sentiment was consistently reinforced throughout their time with us. Their brotherhood, built on the foundation of truth-seeking, and seemingly epitomizing true friendship, served as proof of Dr. George's statement. When asked about discourse, Dr. George defined civility for the audience- outlining the importance of listening from a place of wanting to learn; acknowledging the possibility that "I coul...

7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Haiti

Just over a month after the assassination of their president, and 11 years after their last disastrous earthquake, Haiti was struck by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. This caused obvious extreme damage to the physical infrastructure of the country itself, but even more damage to the safety and wellbeing of the inhabitants of the island. Numbers currently report just over 300 deaths and 1800 Haitians injured by the eathquake. With a government in complete disarray and a geological foundation lacking stability, how can a country be expected to find its footing again? This is the question that the leaders of Haiti will need to face. For now, it is immediately unclear who those leaders will be. This poses a clear issue, especially when one factors in the growing issues of gang violence and widespread poverty across the country. Although international nonprofit organizations like UNICEF are and will continue to offer aid to Haiti, the effectiveness of this outside support is somewhat contingent...

Capstone Project Reflection

On Thursday, May 12, Jackie Sabbag and I presented our capstone project with our other GS cohort members. In attendance were a handful of budding global scholars- it was inspiring to see the continued interest in the program. Jackie and I outlined the specificities of our early relationship with I Am A Girl, and the grant proposal process that followed. The presentation marked a very special culminating moment for our time with the GIP. We presented a similar set of slides to our audience today to the slides that we presented to the grant donors. We wanted the audience today to fully understand why we chose to work with I Am a Girl, why the work we wanted to do through our project was important, and what the money would allow for within the Ugandan Mbale community and beyond. In addition to the grant proposal information we also shared our take-aways from the project. We spoke about the importance of really being able to fulfill our theme of empathy into action.

International Musings

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