Africa has just exceeded six million infections (3.2% of the world total) and 150,000 deaths since the first case was detected on the continent on February 14, 2020, according to its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
Among the most affected countries are South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, despite the fact that they are the ones with the highest number of vaccinated people in a barely immunized continent: only 1.6% have received the full regimen - in Spain, the 54.3% -.
The WHO believes that one way to solve the lack of doses in Africa would be for the drugs to be produced on the continent.
The rapid increase in cases, caused by the delta variant, which is almost three times more contagious than the first one detected in Wuhan, caused the alert level to be raised in South Africa at the end of June, but the scenes in the Hospitals, with patients panting and disoriented along with doctors who are waiting to ensure that they do not lack oxygen, have multiplied because only 3.7% of the population is vaccinated.
In total, 690 million doses have been administered in the 55 countries of the African Union (AU), where 1.3 billion people live.
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Pfizer (USA) and BioNTech (Germany), producers of the most widely used RNAn vaccine in Europe, last week reached an agreement with Biovac (South Africa) for “fill and finish” as well as dose distribution. With this pact, it is expected to produce one hundred million doses a year. A still insufficient amount according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the AU and non-governmental organizations.
“Local production can cope with future outbreaks. We are looking beyond the current crisis ”, explained at a press conference this Wednesday Matshidiso Moeti, director of WHO Africa, convinced that the imbalance in access to vaccines that the African continent is experiencing will not be corrected by Covax (Access Fund Global for Covid-19 Vaccines that includes 190 countries) but through local production. “If you want land, we will give it to you. If you want it to belong to you 100%, we don't care, but produce from the African continent ”, Moeti concluded in a direct message. To which Strive Masiyiwa, special envoy on the UA coronavirus added: "We want to make it clear to all providers that if you want a long-term future with us, from now on, the vaccine must be produced in Africa."
A nurse administers the Sputnik vaccine at a clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe, on July 9.
Tafadzwa Ufumeli / Getty Images
It is the second agreement that materializes on the continent because Janssen (manufacturer of the single-dose vaccine) is already doing the refilling and finishing with the South African company Aspen Pharmacare, and it is expected that in September 2022 they will have distributed 400 million doses In the continent.
“The population is tired, we see that they are beginning to think that they should live with this, to accept it without prioritizing prevention. For example, in Congo Brazzaville the mask is no longer worn correctly in general, the guard has been lowered, but the three prevention measures are still in force: mask, hygiene and gel ”, explains Dr. Mary Stephen, technician of the WHO regional office in Africa. When asked if there are countries whose performance and result could be an example, he avoids naming any and explains that “there are governments that have opted for confinement, taking into account the complexity of avoiding interaction between people in African countries, but the important thing it is that a high percentage of the population continues without being vaccinated, and it is necessary to do everything possible to limit the contagion ”.
The supposed Plan to vaccinate the world against Covid-19 has failed in Africa.
In fact, while African countries await the arrival of new doses, in rich countries (where 1.4% of the world population lives) half of the production has been monopolized and, as the WHO criticizes, they are currently 2,000 million doses are left over.
Medical personnel with protective equipment treat a patient with covid in the ICU of the Machakos hospital, in Kenya, in mid-June.Brian Inganga / AP
The Health Ministers of Nigeria and Mauritania participated in the WHO press conference to convey how from very different realities, by number of inhabitants and logistical capacity both to combat the virus and to distribute the vaccine, regional cooperation has been key. “Things have changed, especially in the face of the anguish of when we will receive more vaccines. They are coming thanks to global and bilateral agreements. We are prepared to accelerate vaccination, concentrating on the most densely populated areas, ”explained Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire, Nigerian Minister of Health. While his Mauritanian counterpart, Sidi Zahaf, shared that they had to organize an extraordinary vaccination campaign so that the batch of AstraZeneca they had received did not expire without being used.
Another challenge that African governments are facing in the distribution of vaccines, and which for Moeti is one more argument for patent liberalization and local production, is the time it takes to locate people who live in remote places, often on the move, and with limited access to a mobile phone or a means of communication that allows them to be monitored. In addition to the rejection of the vaccine that is being seen in countries such as Senegal, where awareness campaigns will be necessary because, as Moeti assured, “African countries are still far from being able to go to the beaches or watch a football match as rich countries do. You have to be prudent ”.
It is approaching utopia, as announced by John Nkengasing, director of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, to inoculate 20% of the African population by the end of the year and to achieve herd immunity with 60% by 2022 Especially when Burundi, Eritrea, Western Sahara and Tanzania have not yet received a single dose.