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On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) considered a new variant of coronavirus B.1.1.529 to be of concern and named it Omicron. A day earlier, South African researchers had turned their attention to the variant world, citing research from member laboratories of members of Genomics for Surveillance, which detected a new virus lineage in samples from Gauteng province in mid-November.
Instead of applauding the excellent efforts of South African scientists, praising the transparency of their government and inventing constructive ways to deal with this potential new threat, the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom pushed the world to ban banquet trips to South Africa. countries. Although Omicron reported in South Africa and Botswana, travel bans were still in place in other South African countries that were yet to register cases. Countries like Malawi have registered less than 20 new COVID-19 cases.
Moreover, these decisions were made when there was little information about the transmissibility and severity of the Omicron variant, nor about its origin. They do not reflect a strong public health policy, but rather long-standing prejudices that continue to deny African citizens the right to mobility and the right to health care. The roots of these general travel bans, the WHO says, will not prevent the spread of Omicron, go back to colonial times and reflect the distorted perceptions and marginalization of Africans and Africans.
At the time of colonialization, racial segregation was established across Africa to distinguish “white” officials from Africans, who were considered “carriers” of diseases such as plague, smallpox, syphilis, sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera. .
Travel bans are “modern” versions of these policies and have often been used against Africans. When the AIDS epidemic broke out 40 years ago, people with HIV were subject to travel and residence restrictions, although there were no public health reasons. These restrictions have led to deportations, denial of access to countries, loss of employment, denial of asylum, and increased stigma and discrimination, which have severely affected Africans.
Opinions that Africa is a “source of disease” have also prompted Western efforts, especially by the media, to “blame” the Omicron variant on South Africa before enough evidence of its origin is available. Contradictions of this theory – such as the detection of cases of variance in people who did not travel to South Africa in European countries – have not stopped this momentum.
The rush to punish Africa suggests that African countries have become the epicenter of COVID-19, when that is far from reality. This, in addition to alienating Western public health failures and increasing numbers of infections, eliminates efforts by African health authorities and local health systems to contain the spread of the virus.
At the same time, the emergence of “worrying variants” around the world (including Europe) and the growing number of COVID-19 deaths among unvaccinated populations have not deterred the West from pursuing vaccine collection and vaccination nationalism policies.
For more than a year now, African political leaders, scientists and activists have been calling on the richest nations to put an end to what has been called “vaccine apartheid”. Various campaigns from #EndVaccineApartheid to #EndVaccineInjusticeInAfrica continue to call for immediate interventions to alleviate the acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 7 per cent of Africans are fully integrated, compared to 66 per cent of the EU population. By the end of October, only five out of 54 African countries were expected to meet the WHO-recommended target of fully integrating 40 percent of their national population by the end of the year.
By the end of 2021, it is estimated that the richest nations will accumulate about 1.2 billion surplus vaccine doses. These countries refuse to terminate the vaccine depot, license, share technology and knowledge, and waive the intellectual property rights of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. That is, although African nations participated in the testing and production of some of these medical technologies.
The use of African bodies for medical experiments in search of cures for various diseases is a colonial heritage even without regard to their safety or best interest. Historian Helen Tilley states in an article on medical practices in colonial Africa that the colonial authorities “turned the African continent into a vast field for experimentation.”
It’s hard not to see the colonial overtones of Africans trying to use COVID-19 vaccines and use them to produce these African handicrafts as a charity to send doses to Europe and receive small amounts of jab in exchange – that too. a long-used marginalized weapon.
All of these policies reinforce the prevailing colonial capitalist order, which ignores equity and justice and privileges some human lives over others. They may offer a false sense of temporary security in Western societies, but they will prolong the pandemic in the long run and affect not only the lives and livelihoods of marginalized populations, but also those who are more privileged.
Vaccine nationalism, border closures and other discriminatory internal actions cannot guarantee global health security. We need to see a leadership that recognizes that this pandemic, like other global health challenges, is fueled by inequality.
Outreach should not be limited to charity, as it has long been a band-aid that maintains power over colonized peoples. It cannot be a solution to a world facing ever-changing public health threats. Instead, they must be dismantled by maintaining global health inequalities and long colonial histories rooted in systems of economic power imbalances.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial attitude of Al Jazeera.
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