: Africa’s COVID-19 Vaccine Problem Is More Than Just a Shortage of Doses #WorldNEWS The emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which was first detected in South Africa and other southern African

Africa’s COVID-19 Vaccine Problem Is More Than Just a Shortage of Doses #WorldNEWS
The emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which was first detected in South Africa and other southern African nations, is casting a harsh new spotlight on vaccine inequality. For months, health experts have warned that low vaccination rates in the developing world make it more likely for dangerous new mutations to form as the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads unchecked.
So far, just 7. 3% of Africans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to 58% in both the U. S. and Europe, where booster shots are now being offered widely. Meanwhile, just 12% of the 1. 9 billion doses promised to low and middle income countries had been delivered as of early November.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=true]
But in order to improve Africas vaccination rate, it will take more than just a flood of COVID-19 vaccine doses. A lack of coordination on vaccine shipments, weak health infrastructure and vaccine hesitancy sowed by mistrust and misinformation are already slowing vaccination efforts when doses are available, African health experts say.
Even South Africa, which has one of the highest vaccination rates on the continent with 24% of its population fully vaccinated, is struggling to get more shots into arms. While South African scientists rattled the world last week with their identification of the new Omicron variant, health officials in the country were telling U. S. drug manufacturers to delay delivery of more vaccine doses because demand is not strong enough, and they are concerned about looming expiration dates.
Scientists do not yet know whether the Omicron variant is more dangerous. However, they are concerned that the large number of mutations, including some 30 in the spike protein, could make it more transmissible and could make vaccines less effective.
What is going on right now was largely inevitable. The current variant, Omicron, is the result of the world’s failure to vaccinate its citizens in an equitable and efficient manner, says Dr. Ayoade Alakija, co-chairperson of the Africa Union’s African Vaccine Delivery Alliance. The inconsiderate and isolationist behavior of the Global North has created the current situation, and until they are held accountable, Im afraid Omicron may just be the beginning.

Amanuel Sileshi—AFP/Getty ImagesA cold storage facility for Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, delivered as part of the COVAX initiative, at Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia on March 7, 2021.
Poor coordination of vaccine shipments
Most African nations relied on COVAX, a program set up to supply vaccines to low- and middle-income countries—to provide shipments of COVID-19 vaccines. However, when the worlds largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, was hit with production problems and an export ban following Indias own COVID-19 surge, vaccine deliveries slowed to a trickle.