Scientists call on world to help Africa with Covid-19 vaccines in wake of Omicron variant
- South African medical specialists say vaccine equity and reducing the stigma around HIV will help curb future variants
- So far only 7 per cent of Africa’s population has been vaccinated, prompting calls for rich countries to do more to redress the imbalance
In an opinion piece published in the journal Nature on Thursday, four scientists and clinical practitioners working in hospitals and laboratories across South Africa said vaccine equity across the continent and a reduction in the stigma surrounding HIV could help reduce the number of future variants.
“A failure to tackle the pandemic with sufficient urgency in countries with high rates of uncontrolled advanced HIV could lead to the emergence of variants of the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 that spread more easily between people or render the vaccines less effective,” they warned.
People with weakened immune systems can remain infected with the virus for several weeks or months, compared with the average of around two weeks, increasing the chance of the virus mutating, according to the researchers.
“For people living with HIV, protection from Covid-19 requires a renewed commitment to vaccine equity between countries. This must come from high-income nations and multilateral initiatives such as Covax,” they said, referring to the vaccine distribution platform co-led by the World Health Organization, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
South Africa first reported the new variant, now named Omicron, to the WHO on November 24.