CAPE TOWN – Today, December 8 marks exactly one year since the first approved Covid-19 vaccine was administered to a British woman.
The Covid-19 vaccine, the first-ever Covid-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine dose, was administered in the United Kingdom, to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan at University Hospital in Coventry.
With this said, vaccine inequality continues to hamper Africa’s response to the pandemic, amid rising Covid-19 infections driven by a new variant called Omicron, which was first discovered by South African scientists.
On Tuesday, Botswana’s Ministry of Health and Wellness informed the media that a consignment of 79,200 Johnson and Johnson vaccine doses have arrived in the country.
The ministry said that the consignment was purchased through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust.
The ministry said that this brings the total number of vaccines purchased and so far delivered to the country through this facility to just over 650,000 .
Further, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has blasted richer countries for vaccine hoarding during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, as well as for imposing travel bans on southern Africa recently when South African scientists discovered the new Omicron variant.
Ramaphosa was speaking at the 7th session of the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Senegal on Monday.
Ramaphosa said they (developed countries) were demonstrating that they were only interested in advancing the interests of their citizens, not the citizens of the whole world.
“This is the type of vaccine apartheid we say must come to an end, because the health of people around the world is at stake.
“I can say I am really disappointed at the approach the rich countries have taken on the issue of vaccines.
“Firstly, they hoarded vaccines. They ordered more vaccines than their populations required.”
Ramaphosa said that the lives of people in Africa are just as important as the lives of people in Europe, in North America, and all over the world, but up till now the developed countries are refusing to do so, and this is disappointing, particularly from those who call themselves our partners.
According to the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Covid-19 vaccines have undergone and will continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in US history, with a growing body of evidence showing that the vaccines are safe and effective.
Covid-19 vaccines were developed using scientific methods that have been around for decades.
African News Agency (ANA)