Is there really a vaccine apartheid in Africa?

 Is there really a vaccine apartheid in Africa?

The podcast I listened to was a discussion with Dr. Richard Mihigo from the World Health Organization on the vaccination situation in Africa. Around 40 million Africans have received both doses of the covid vaccine – which is barely 3% of the continent that is home to 1.3 billion people. The number of people vaccinated is not enough to make a huge difference in covid cases.

Vaccines need to be supplied to more developing nations to prevent deaths that are a result of a limited supply [of vaccines]. Western countries focusing on their populations is understandable, but this disease is not contained within borders, and we can see that with the global spread of the virus. Getting more people vaccinated will help provide herd immunity across the globe and prevent any further mutations of the virus from developing.

Co-Vax was a scheme created to help get vaccines to poorer countries. From my understanding, this is not happening because Western countries are ready to administer booster shots when a large population in the developing world has not received a single dose. This is not helping prevent the spread of the virus or protect most of the world’s population. World health leaders need to focus on getting everyone around the globe fully vaccinated, before administering booster shots to already vaccinated individuals.

African countries have had to rely on other nations to provide vaccines and PPE (personal protection equipment throughout the pandemic. This reliance has led to discussions amongst health ministers across the continent about manufacturing vaccines on the continent in a bid to reduce dependency on other countries. Manufacturing vaccines on the continent would allow African countries to make their own COVID vaccines, and any other vaccines the continent may need. Morocco and Egypt are the first African countries to make such vaccines.  

According to Dr. Mihigo, the WHO projects that by December 2021 30% of the African population will be fully vaccinated and by next July 60-70% of the population will be vaccinated. With the current rate of funding and infrastructure, this goal can become a reality.

  Source: https://open.spotify.com/episode/73nqMPoX0xYon2Nj1fpgzg?si=3Jfe2mRIRNekQEmxuGQ8ig&dl_branch=1&nd=1