By: The Editor
As world countries including the United Kingdom, Israel, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, place travel bans on South Africa and other SADC countries following the discovery of a new Omicron Covid-19 variant, Africa as a whole should rethink its fight against the pandemic.
It is unwise to simply wait on others to help the continent contain the pandemic. Currently, only 6.6% of Africa’s 1.2 billion population is fully vaccinated. Centre for Disease Control -CDC- acknowledges the many factors hindering the robust fight against the virus, but there is little being done to address the widespread vaccine hesitancy.
There seem to be a leadership crisis with regards to fighting the pandemic as many countries around the continent report of inadequate financial muscle to fund logistics necessary for accelerating vaccine roll-outs.
While we acknowledge many countries’ financial challenges, we in the same vein acknowledge the absence of seriousness and focus on the part of many government heads. For example, over 50 countries had missed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target for 10% of their populations to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of September.
In Namibia, 268,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines are at risk of being destroyed due to slow uptake. From many country reports across Africa, it is not arguable that governments have failed to address vaccine hesitancy. Around the world 88 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered per 100 people, but it is a different story with the world’s second largest continent where the vaccination rate is at 13.5 doses per 100 individuals.
As if it is not enough, Africa’s vaccination rate is characterized by a striking divide between countries. For instance, Seychelles has inoculated 61 doses per 100 per people, the rate in DR Congo is still below 5 vaccines per 100 individuals.
What is it that Africa is not doing right to reduce vaccine hesitancy?? The answer to this question lies in extreme religious practices and lack of political will among leaders. Without taking new measures, Africa will take years to recover from the virus, worse from its ripple effect on the economy.
