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An end to vaccine nationalism will revitalize the war against the pandemic in the African continent
Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | The fight against COVID-19 in Africa is facing new headwinds amid hoarding of vaccine stockpiles by wealthy nations that has created a supply crunch in the continent, campaigners said on Wednesday.
Alice Kayongo, regional policy and advocacy manager at AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), decried vaccine nationalism saying it has undermined efforts to contain the pandemic in the continent.
“The hoarding of COVID-19 vaccine by the developed world has posed significant threats in Africa where new variants have been reported and could worsen community-based infections,” Kayongo said at a virtual forum on vaccine nationalism organized by AHF.
Senior African policymakers, researchers and health advocates who participated in the forum said that an end to vaccine nationalism will revitalize the war against the pandemic in the continent.
Allan Maleche, executive director of Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS, said that vaccine nationalism is a threat to multilateral initiatives aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic in low and middle-income countries.
According to Maleche, hoarding of vaccine doses is counterproductive since it could expose rich nations to new coronavirus strains that might erupt in poor nations with low immunization coverage.
“We require vaccine equity as a matter of urgency and countries that have overstocked the life-saving commodity should consider sharing it or waiving patents to promote manufacturing in the developing world,” said Maleche.
He said the international community should develop modalities of transferring patent rights, technology and skills required to boost the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.
Christian Happi, director of Nigeria-based African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, said that ending vaccine nationalism will strengthen collaborative research, knowledge and technology transfer required to boost access to the life-saving commodity.
Happi said that delayed vaccination in Africa linked to hoarding by wealthy countries could undermine global health security and a return to normalcy.
Jeffrey Mphahlele, vice president for research at the South African Medical Research Council, said that multilateral institutions should limit the pre-ordering of COVID-19 vaccines by rich nations to ensure the commodity is available in Africa.
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Xinhua
