AFRICAN HEALTH leaders have issued an urgent call for global vaccine equity claiming that the worst pandemic in the last hundred years will not end unless richer countries cooperate with the continent on vaccine supply.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Strive Masiyima, African Union Special Envoy for COVID- 19, Dr Vera Songwe, UN Under- Secretary- General, and Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa were among the leading figures who issued a joint call following a recent meeting.
“More than 5.7 billion doses have been administered globally, but only 2% of those have been administered in Africa” Ghebreyesus said. “This doesn’t only hurt the people of Africa, it hurts all of us. The longer vaccine inequity persists, the more the virus will keep circulating and changing, the longer the social and economic disruption will continue, and the higher the chances that more variants will emerge that render vaccines less effective.”
According to recent figures almost 90% of high-income countries have now reached the target of vaccinating 10% of their population and more than 70% have reached the 40% target. However not a single low-income country has reached either target.
Globally, 5.5 billion vaccine doses have been administered, but 80% have been administered in high- and upper-middle income countries.
High-income countries have now administered almost 100 doses for every 100 people. Meanwhile, low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people, due to lack of supply.
Dr John Nkengasong, Africa CDC Director said: “We will not be able to achieve 60% of our population fully immunised if we do not fully explore and deploy the power of partnership, the power of cooperation, and the power of solidarity. We all have acknowledged now that vaccines are the only solution for us to get out of this pandemic collectively. That has to be done quickly.”
Challenge
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director For Africa said: “The question is sometimes asked do African countries have the capacity to absorb the vaccines? The simple answer is yes. The continuous challenge is that global supplies are not being shared in ways that will get the world out of this pandemic.”
“Hundreds of WHO staff are on the ground, ready to support countries to expand vaccination sites and to manage the complexities of small deliveries of a variety of vaccines“. “What’s more, African countries have done this before – successfully implementing massive vaccination campaigns against polio, yellow fever and cholera.”
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