International cooperation between countries can enhance efforts in reducing disaster and calamity risk losses.
The United Nations UN notes that Covid -19 pandemic preparedness and equity in vaccination distribution should be a priority area.
The world Health Organization (WHO) has raised concern over targets set for vaccinations. It says five African countries, less than 10% of Africa’s 54 nations, are projected to hit the 2021 year-end target of fully vaccinating 40% of their people, unless efforts to accelerate the pace take off.
“Hundreds of WHO staff are on the ground, ready to support countries to expand vaccination sites’, said WHO Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti
WHO also notes that three African countries, Seychelles, Mauritius and Morocco, have already met the goal that was set in May by the World Health Assembly, the world’s highest health policy-setting body. At the current pace just two more countries, Tunisia and Cabo Verde, will also hit the target.
“The looming threat of a vaccine commodities crisis hangs over the Africa. Early 2022 COVID-19 vaccines will start pouring into Africa, but a scarcity of syringes could paralyze progress. Drastic measures must be taken to boost syringe production, fast. Countless African lives depend on it,” adds Dr Matshidiso Moeti.
The UN quotes Namibia’s President, Hage G. Geingob, saying the state of affairs is so severe it amounts to “vaccine apartheid”, with many developing countries left out of the equation. “It is a pity that we have a situation where, in some countries, citizens are at a stage of receiving booster shots, while in other countries, many are still waiting to receive their first doses.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said that while it was indeed through solidarity that countries were able to access medical supplies, the global community has not sustained these principles in securing equitable access to vaccines. With more than 82 per cent of doses acquired by wealthy countries, and less than 1 per cent sent to low-income ones, he urgently called for a temporary waiver of some Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provisions, which would allow low-income nations to produce vaccines.
These were African leaders decrying Covid-19 Vaccine Inequity while speaking in General Assembly Call for Rich Nations to Share Surplus Doses, Patent Waivers Allowing Production in Low-Income Countries
It is no doubt that if vaccines were easily available and accessible, then the Covid – 19 pandemic can be slowed down or stopped all together