NAIROBI, Kenya — Rich international locations’ selections to roll out COVID-19 booster shots whereas so many individuals throughout Africa stay unvaccinated “threaten the promise of a brighter tomorrow” for the continent, the Africa director for the World Health Organization mentioned Thursday, warning that “as some richer countries hoard vaccines, they make a mockery of vaccine equity.”
Matshidiso Moeti and different African well being officers, together with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had warned towards booster shots in latest weeks as lower than 2 p.c of the inhabitants on the continent of 1.3 billion individuals is totally vaccinated towards COVID-19.
Moeti famous that the newest resurgence in instances throughout Africa is leveling off and extra vaccine doses are lastly arriving on the continent, however “Africa is encountering headwinds” as wealthy international locations just like the United States resolve to roll out booster shots.
The state of affairs in Africa stays “very fragile” because the extra infectious delta variant is now dominant in most of the continent’s 54 international locations, she mentioned. More than 7.3 million instances, together with greater than 186,000 deaths, have been confirmed throughout the continent and well being techniques are straining to offer medical oxygen and different care.
US well being officers on Wednesday introduced plans to dispense COVID-19 booster shots to all Americans amid the surging delta variant and indicators that vaccines’ effectiveness is slipping.
Kenyans queue to obtain the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine donated by Britain, on the Makongeni Estate in Nairobi, Kenya Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. AP
Moeti informed reporters she couldn’t say with any accuracy whether or not the doses the US plans to make use of for booster shots will come from shares that had been deliberate for Africa, however “hopefully not.”
The State Department didn’t instantly reply to questions.
Moeti famous the “already highly inequitable situation” globally in vaccine provide and urged that the emphasis as a substitute be positioned on making progress in vaccinating individuals in Africa, whose international locations lag far behind a lot of the world in entry and protection.
Moeti identified that wealthy international locations have on common administered greater than 103 vaccine doses per 100 individuals, whereas in Africa it’s simply six.
Earlier this week the WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, referred to as it “unconscionable” that some international locations at the moment are providing booster shots “while so many people remain unprotected.”
Moeti on Thursday mentioned that “we are urging wealthier countries that have supplies that are sometimes even more than their population numbers to increase their donations to African counties that have been so disadvantaged.”
She added, after the revelation this week that some COVID-19 vaccine doses now being manufactured in Africa are being shipped to Europe, “I think no better example can follow this than vaccines that are actually being produced on the African continent.” She referred to as on these international locations to think about donating some of the South Africa-produced vaccines to African nations “as well as serving their needs.”
