Isotopes of Interdependence

By Bart-Jan Ploman

Hours before „Vulnerable Beings“ started in November 2021, news broke that immediate border restrictions were put in place for travelers coming to Europe from Southern Africa. A few days later we found out that the Omicron-variant of Covid-19 had already been circulating in the Northern Hemisphere at least a week earlier. Although unlikely, some started to argue it might even have mutated there first. Once again – in case it had gone unnoticed during the first waves of this pandemic – travel restrictions imposed by nations in the Western Hemisphere have done little to nothing to keep out the virus, and have created myriad other problems in return. Solving global vaccine inequality, on the other hand, would have likely helped reduce the risk of the virus mutating in the first place.