Global climate talks could be collateral damage of vaccine nationalism

Failure to heal divisions over vaccine availability for developing countries could poison the well of global coordination and imperil the COP26 climate negotiations

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, warned of a possible 'catastrophic moral failure' owing to unequal vaccine distribution. File Picture: Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP

Will negotiators from the Global South be barred from attending the United Nations climate summit (COP26) in Glasgow in November because they are not vaccinated against Covid-19? 

This scenario will not arise, one hopes, because developing-country officials will almost certainly receive their shots in advance.