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COVID-19: Anxiety as Africa may become breeding ground for new variants

While more than 1.3 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, 83 per cent have gone to a handful of wealthy nations. Lowincome countries – of which many are in Africa – have received a mere 0.3 per cent. Experts fear that the current pace of vaccine procurement process by African countries may blight the achievement of needed herd immunity and consequently threaten the fight to curb the pandemic globally, reports APPOLONIA ADEYEMI

With the rollout of COVID- 19 vaccination, first from advanced economies, it was widely believed that the world community would overcome the threats posed by the coronavirus pandemic to the people. Sadly, against the background of vaccine inequity/hoarding mainly by developed countries, concerns have been raised about how to ensure that no part of the world is left behind in the fight to curb COVID-19.

This was the focus of a recent virtual panel discussion hosted by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) which is transferring know-how learnt from the fight against HIV to the war against COVID-19. Based on its commitment to achieve this mission, the digital campaign of #VaccinateOur- World and #vownow has called on world leaders, vaccine manufacturers, and public health organisations to ‘VOW’ to protect humanity by providing equal access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, particularly in lowerincome countries.

While more than 1.3 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, 83 per cent have gone to a handful of wealthy nations. Low-income countries – of which many are in Africa – have received a mere 0.3 per cent, according to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“If vaccine procurement proceeds at the current pace, experts are predicting that most of Africa won’t begin to see sufficient quantities of COVID-19 vaccines until early 2023, which is flatly unacceptable,” said AHF South Africa Country Programme Director, Dr. Nduduzo Dube. According to the Executive Director of KELIN and the Board Member Developing County NGOs of the Global Fund Board, Allan Maleche who was one of the panelists at the programme, it is critical for the world populace to have more access to COVID-19 vaccine; the only way to beat the pandemic is to vaccinate more people. Otherwise, he reasoned that the world community faces the risk of confronting more coronavirus variants.

Consequently, it is necessary to take progressive measures by ensuring vaccine equity. To this end, he condemned the act of amassing and hoarding vaccines as currently played out by the developed countries, saying it is not a solution but only sets back the fight to curb the pandemic globally. Other panelists at the conversation include Professor Christian Happi, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics and Director of African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID); Professor Jeffrey Mphahlele, Vice President of the South African Medical Research Council; Thokozani Ndaba, Founding Member and current Executive Director of Ntethelelo Foundation in Johannesburg: Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year in Activism category 2018; and Dr. Penninah Lutung, Bureau Chief of AHF Africa as well as Alice Kayongo, AHF Regional Policy and Advocacy Manager for East and West Africa. Insight was shared and messages were imparted creating a synergy of collaboration and a practical guideline of manageable steps world leaders should be considering to vaccinate world citizens and stop the spread of COVID-19. One such discussion centred around morals gained through the wavering of intellectual property around antiretrovirals (ART) therapy for HIV infection.

How removing the Technical Regulation Information System (TRIS) and transferring tech and know-how would enable the better management of vaccines and reduce the threat of the COVID pandemic considerably. One of the highlights of ‘Vaccinate Our World’-Interrupting The Acute Phase Of COVID-19, was that during the (2013 – 2016) Western African Ebola virus epidemic, the genetic data gathered allowed a better response to the outbreak: An action that ultimately led to the establishment of the Africa Centre of Pandemic Disease – the Africa CDC.

Similarly, the panelists reasoned that war against COVID- 19 could use research facilities already available in Africa which would help with real-time action today. According to Dr. Lutung, “If the whole world is not vaccinated, Africa, along with all developing countries, runs the risk of becoming a breeding ground for new variants. Around this topic, the salient point of genomics was raised, an important means of studying and understanding the mutation and evolution of COVID-19 and the consequent effect on vaccines.”

“The risk is ever-present that if vaccines aren’t administered fast enough, new variants of COVID-19 will emerge that will not respond to the vaccines available,” explains Lutung. Consequently, the overstocking of vaccines by countries in the developed world was questioned: The restricted access of the developing world to vaccines leaves many unprotected and gives COVID-19 time to mutate beyond vaccine effectiveness. In addition, vaccine-hoarding countries were asked to reveal their plans to get their surplus vaccines to the developing world. In his submission, Happi said if a large number of Africans are not vaccinated, the people could have more variants that will not respond to vaccination. While warning that COVID-19 transmission is still ongoing as witnessed in India, Brazil, Turkey, the United States (U.S.), among others, he warned that the world might end up losing the fight against the pandemic. “No country is safe except everyone else is vaccinated,” stressed Happi, adding that countries with vaccines should give them out to ensure equitable distribution.

For Mphahlele, high income countries need to come up with a phramework that allow companies producing COVID-19 vaccines to share/distribute to countries without producing companies. This is the only way the COVAX Facility will be able to deliver on its mandate, he opined. COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In addition to giving out vaccines, Mphahlele urged them to also demonstrate willingness and readiness to share the know-how of vaccine production so as to encourage more developing nations initiate local vaccine production. According to the professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics, if COVAX fails to function properly due to vaccine hoarding, Africa will continue to lag behind in the vaccination process. He said it will take a long time for African population to attain herd immunity.

Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection from infectious disease that can occur with some diseases when a sufficient percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through vaccination or previous infections, thereby reducing the likelihood of infection for individuals who lack immunity. Mphahlele also cautioned on inherent danger in denying poor and developing countries vaccines, saying it could lead to advanced economies moving towards COVID- 19 high risk as well.

He said developed countries should share vaccines to others before vaccinating their children. In his contribution, Dr. Lutung said the ongoing vaccine inequity and hoarding by developed countries threatens the African populace based on the uncertainty around African countries vaccination process. Consequently, he reasoned that African will be breathing ground for new COVID- 19 variants.

The objectives of the #VaccinateOurWorld campaign are: he global COVID-19 vaccination effort must secure $100 billion from G20 countries; to produce and provide seven billion vaccine doses worldwide within one year; companies and governments must waive or suspend all COVID-19 vaccine patents during the pandemic, countries must be 100 per cent transparent in sharing information and data, and finally; world leaders must also promote far greater international cooperation as the driving force for ending the pandemic, and not continue with politics as usual. Similarly, individuals and organisations are requested to pledge their support to rid the world of COVID-19.

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