Follow Us on Google
The advent of the more deadly Delta variant of COVID-19 pandemic ought to compel the governments of Nigeria and other African countries to step up vaccination on the continent. Unfortunately, this is not the case, as the level of vaccination is still abysmally low. The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently decried the situation. According to her, most of the doses end up in the developed countries, thereby increasing the vaccine inequity.
Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke at the recent National Diaspora Day 2021, organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), disclosed that the WTO was trying to work with vaccine producers to change the narrative. She added that the organisation was ramping up vaccines’ production, with a target of 11 billion doses by the end of the year to fill the immunisation gap. Currently, the production level of COVID-19 vaccines is 3.8 billion.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that a large number of poorer countries relying on COVAX Facility, a coalition that ensures equitable access of the vaccines across the world, did not have enough doses to continue with vaccination. The COVAX Programme targets to supply 600 million doses to Africa by the end of 2021. The aim is to vaccinate at least 20 per cent of the population. However, only about two doses of vaccine have reportedly been administered per 100 people. This pales into insignificance compared with an average of about 68 doses per 100 persons in advanced countries. As at last week, the United States and the United Kingdom have achieved 49.9 per cent and 56.7 per cent vaccination, respectively. Worldwide, about 4.07 billion doses have been given and 1.12 billion people fully vaccinated. This equates to about 14.4 per cent of population fully vaccinated.
Speaking at the 74th World Health Assembly recently, the Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, regretted that about 10 countries accounted for 75 per cent of the vaccine doses that had been administered so far.
Part of the reasons for this low rate of vaccination is supply shortages in many African countries. These countries sourced their vaccines from the Serum Institute of India under the COVAX scheme. Unfortunately, India faced a more serious crisis and had to halt its export of the vaccines so as to tackle its pressing needs.
Vaccine rejection and hesitancy are also part of the problem. This is driven by myths and conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19 pandemic. For many Africans, there are still doubts and skepticisms about the reality of COVID-19 and the efficacy of the available vaccines. Some people still believe that the disease is not meant for Africa. Even with the roll-out of the vaccines, two African countries –Burundi and Eritrea–and the self-declared Sahrawi Republic are yet to receive the vaccines. Although Burundi has finally accepted the vaccine, it is not clear how many doses the country will receive and when. As at last week, Burkina Faso is said to have given 37,120 doses of the vaccine but has only fully vaccinated 2,371. This amounts to about 0.1 per cent of the population fully vaccinated. Nigeria has fully vaccinated only about 1.4 million people representing about 0.7 per cent of its population. This is out of the 3.94 million doses given.
Moreover, these countries are still contending with poor health care facilities and inadequate manpower to facilitate the vaccination of many people. The majority of Africans live in rural areas where access to good health care is abysmally low. This leaves them vulnerable to COVID-19 infections.
Experts have warned that the slow vaccination rate in Africa could pose serious consequences to the health care system and economies of the continent. The rest of the world is not safe as well because a pandemic-ravaged Africa can bring about new infections that will have debilitating effects on the larger world population. Besides, the United Nations recent economic forecast noted that while the outlook for global growth had improved, the ongoing impacts of the pandemic as well as inadequate progress on vaccination in poorer countries, were putting recovery at risk.
There is need for global intervention to bridge the vaccination gaps. No country, no matter its vaccination rate, is safe until all countries have sufficiently vaccinated the target groups. Hence, we enjoin the more privileged countries to share their vaccines with African countries. This will ensure that those who are at the greatest risk of contracting the deadly disease will get some protection, especially against the more virulent Delta variant.
The developed world must assist developing countries in Africa and Asia to overcome the glaring vaccination challenges because vaccine nationalism cannot help the world now.
Nigeria should devote more funds to COVID-19 vaccination. Let government sensitise the citizens and make more elaborate plans to enable Nigerians embrace vaccination. Local remedies should also be made and tested to determine their efficacy. In all, every Nigerian must be part of government’s effort to check the spread of the pandemic.
