Vatican calls for fair distribution of vaccines

(ANSA) - VATICAN CITY, DEC 29 - The Vatican on Tuesday called for the fair distribution of COVID vaccines.
    Vaccines were developed as a public good and must be provided to all in a fair and equitable manner, giving priority to those who need them most, it said, according to Vatican News.
    The Vatican's Covid-19 Commission and the Pontifical Academy for Life have highlighted this need in a joint document that discusses the essential role of the anti-covid vaccine to defeat the pandemic.
    Referring to the Pope's recent Christmas Message, world leaders are exhorted to reject the temptation to promote "various forms of nationalism" regarding the vaccine, and to cooperate in its distribution. As he said on 25 December, "for these lights to illuminate and bring hope to all, they need to be available to all." Justice, solidarity and inclusion are the main criteria to be followed in order to meet the challenges posed by this worldwide emergency.
    The Note describes the criteria set out by Pope Francis in his General Audience on 19 August for positively evaluating companies that deserve our support: that they "contribute to the inclusion of the excluded, to the promotion of the least, to the common good and the care of creation".
    The indispensable guide, therefore, is the "broad horizon that evokes the principles of the Church's Social Doctrine, such as human dignity and the preferential option for the poor, solidarity and subsidiarity, the common good and the care of the common home, and justice and the universal destination of goods." It is not only the final moment of vaccine administration that needs to be considered. Its entire "life cycle" must be taken into account. (ANSA).