The discovery of the “Omicron” strain of the Corona virus in the south of the continent reinforced allegations that low vaccination rates could encourage the emergence of viral mutations capable of spreading in countries with high vaccination rates.
However, the Mohamed Ibrahim Foundation said in a report on “Covid 19” in Africa, that only 5 of the continent’s 54 countries are on the way to achieving the World Health Organization’s goal of fully vaccinating 40 percent of the population by the end of 2021.
The aforementioned institution was established by Sudanese telecommunications magnate Mohamed Ibrahim in 2006, to support governance and economic development in Africa.
The foundation’s data showed that one in 15 people in Africa had received full vaccinations, compared to nearly 70 percent in the wealthy G7 countries.
“Since the beginning of the crisis, our Foundation and other African voices have warned that a non-vaccinated continent could become an ideal incubator for mutating viruses,” Ibrahim, the foundation’s president, said in a statement.
He added: “The emergence of the Omicron mutant reminds us that the (Covid 19) pandemic remains a global threat, and that our only option is to vaccinate the entire population of the world, yet we are still witnessing blatant discrimination in the distribution of vaccines, and Africa in particular has been left falling behind.”
Vaccine supplies were scarce in Africa after countries were ahead of initial orders from pharmaceutical companies, and the global Kovacs initiative to distribute vaccines got off to a slow start.
The report said that supplies have increased in Africa in recent months, but weak health care systems and infrastructure are hampering the start of vaccination campaigns after the arrival of vaccines.
He stated that the pandemic revealed the weakness of civil registration systems in Africa, as only 10 percent of deaths on the continent are officially registered, and the weakness of the systems raised the possibility that vaccination rates may be lower than official statistics show.
The Foundation also called for strengthening social safety nets to protect the most vulnerable groups, noting that the average spending in Africa on measures to respond to the Corona pandemic, outside the scope of health care, amounted to 2.4 percent of GDP, less than half the global average.
.
Leave a Reply