As Omicron looms, Africa battles to get vaccine shots in arms

Some countries are destroying doses donated with too little time left before expiration dates

Vaccine hesitancy and logistics problems are also playing their part in keeping inoculation rates down

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Published: 6:00am, 15 Dec 2021Updated: 9:44pm, 15 Dec 2021

The situation has become indefensible, according to one top health expert.

Across Africa, as the Omicron variant extends its reach, more than 80 per cent of the 1.2 billion people on the continent have yet to have a single dose of a coronavirus vaccine and only 8 per cent have received a full regime.

In the beginning, the problem was a lack of supply but as the production of doses has been ramped up around the world, the lack of shots in arms has been complicated by vaccine hesitancy, short shelf life and logistics. Eritrea, for example, has yet to start its vaccine roll-out.

“Millions of people in our region are without protection against Covid-19. This is simply dangerous and untenable,” said Dr Richard Mihigo, coordinator for the immunisation and vaccines development programme at the WHO’s Regional Office for Africa.

The problem is particularly acute in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country with 206 million people.

So far, just 2 per cent of the public have been fully vaccinated – well short of the WHO’s goal of 40 per cent by the end of the year – but authorities are destroying more than a million vaccines it received from Europe.