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Join on Telegram Rabat – EU countries such as Germany have started purchasing millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, in an attempt to distribute booster shots and halt the spread of the new variants of the virus. This comes in the midst of a third wave that is hitting Africa, as the continent is suffering from severe vaccine shortages.
As Europe leads the world in vaccination rates, it was thought that this could finally be a chance for other countries to get access to doses and ramp up their vaccination efforts, such as African countries which suffer from rates as low as 1%.
This move comes with its critics, who say that robust vaccination efforts in lower-income countries would be beneficial for the world as a whole, Europe included. “At the end of the day, look at where we are because of these variants,” Phionah Atuhebwe, who is the current vaccines introduction health officer for Africa in the World Health Organization (WHO), told POLITICO. “The variant just [emerges] in one country and [shortly] it’s all over the globe.”
The UK has purchased 60 million doses and is expected to secure even more for its booster program, as authorities have been advised to give third doses to vulnerable members of the population. Germany and the EU Commission intended to purchase 204 million and 150 million doses respectively. This agreement follows others, which will see the EU receive billions of doses of the vaccine.
Consequently, African countries are suffering from a serious shortage of vaccines, which puts them at risk of having no vaccines available in their borders in the near future, according to Atuhebwe. Countries like the UK and the US have pledged to share their doses with lower-income regions, but the move was viewed by humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF as insufficient.
The contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in India, has hit several African countries, resulting in a third wave within the continent that could be even more devastating. African countries are mostly reliant on the WHO’s COVAX program – a programme that provides vaccines to lower-income countries.
