Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Mass vaccination critical for economic recovery
THE only way to rid the African continent of Covid-19 is to vaccinate a majority of the population by the end of 2022 to see economic and social recovery.
“I dread to see a headline that says Covid in Africa moving from a pandemic to an endemic disease,” AU director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr John Nkengasong, said on Wednesday.
“That will be an awful headline to read … because the continent of Africa will not be able to stand the shock if Covid becomes endemic on the continent.”
Nkengasong said to secure Africa, 60% of the total population needed to be vaccinated.
“If by the end of 2022 we have not vaccinated a substantial amount of our people – at least 60% or so – then the chances that we are moving towards endemicity of Covid on the continent will become very, very real. And that will continue to have a severe impact on the disruption of our economy,” Nkengasong said.
“And I do not think the continent has the ability to withstand the shocks. So, I think doing that (vaccination) up-scaled, and urgently, is so important.”
Africa has more than 3.9 million cases of Covid-19, with over 104 000 deaths, Nkengasong said.
“The arrival of the vaccines signals the beginning of the end, hopefully.”
He added that a huge task remained ahead of Africa, as people needed to realise that vaccines and vaccinations equalled lives saved.
“We need to engage with community leaders … There’s a lot of scepticism out there. There is a lot of misinformation out there, there is a lot of misunderstanding out there of what the vaccines can do and have to do,” he said.
“Unless and until we apply ourselves across this equation, it (the pandemic) will continue to be a challenge.”
In the history of the continent, there has never been a massive vaccination drive like this one, he said.
Dr Richard Mihigo, of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional office for Africa, said the Covax initiative aimed to deliver about 600 million Covid-19 vaccines to Africa by the end of 2021.
Mihigo said there was emerging evidence globally that indicated the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccines was reducing not only confirmed positive cases but also hospitalisation and deaths.
“We will push ahead in supporting countries to roll out safe and efficacious vaccines as quickly as possible as a life-saving tool to help bring about the end of this devastating pandemic,” he said.
“However, we all need to remain vigilant, to adhere to the preventative measures and to keep surveillance, testing, isolation and treatment capacities scaled up to quickly respond to any flare-ups of cases.
“This will definitely be the fastest road to social and economic recovery. And it will require ongoing international solidarity. No country will be safe until all countries are safe from Covid-19.”
Mihigo said the WHO was encouraging wealthy countries to make surplus vaccines available to African countries.
Since November, the WHO has worked with countries to prepare for the vaccine deliveries. Mihigo said 44 countries have developed detailed national deployment vaccination plans.
“We are starting to see preliminary evidence that suggests that vaccines may have varying levels of efficacy against different variants, and so, ongoing research will be important to better understand the extent of protection that the vaccine provides against different variants,” he said.
“Even against the new variants, the Covid-19 vaccine shows strong potential.”