Dear Editor,

As countries retreat and borders harden, the recent pandemic shows us the folly of thinking we can seal out the world, especially when it comes to diseases that have threatened humanity for millennia. While the new zeitgeist seems to keep everything and let the other guy rot, decades of public health has shown us we are all in this together, regardless of how much razor wire lines our borders.

As governments retreat from the international stage, funding for GAVI, the international vaccine alliance, is coming due. It's critical that Canada does not founder in our long role of providing medicines and vaccines to the world's poorest. The cost of this funding is paltry when compared to that of diseases left to run riot across the world, in lives lost and the inevitability of another pandemic.

Nathaniel Poole

Victoria BC