India’s COVID fight raises vaccine concerns in Africa Coronavirus pandemic News

Africa is being watched terribly while India is struggling with coronavirus because it fears a long-running shortage of Indian vaccines to protect its people.

Often referred to as the “pharmacy of the world,” AstraZeneca is one of the largest providers of the AstraZeneca vaccine within the COVAX program to support vaccines in poorer countries.

But, in India, it has caused an explosive growth of infections. Scientists have accelerated it through a new variant.

The country has recorded 22 million cases per 1.3 billion population, and nearly a quarter of a million deaths.

After sending more than 60 million doses abroad, India announced in late March that it was delaying supplies to other countries as it worked to meet its needs.

African Union (AU) health ministers conducted emergency interviews online on Saturday to examine the vaccine gap.

“The state of vaccines is very complex due to the current situation in India,” said Cameroonian virologist John Nkengasong, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Africa, AU’s health watchdog.

“We hope that there will be a steady supply of vaccines through COVAX India, but we are absolutely terrified and unbelievable at what is happening in India and we do not expect vaccines to be shipped from India soon.”

Of all the continents, Africa has survived the worst pandemic to date, with just over 124,000 deaths officially in 4.6 million cases.

On the other hand, Africa is overcrowded with urban neighborhoods with virus-ridden slums and poor health infrastructure – risk factors that are also evident in the Indian experience.

The continent has administered 19.6 million doses, which is only 2% of the total. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 80% of doses are given in the richest countries.

As they do not have the resources to manufacture their vaccine in bulk, African countries have so far had to resort to the open market or the COVAX scheme.

The AU African Vaccine Acquisition Group (AVATT) expects to get the vaccine through its own program in late July or early August, and Nkengasong said that although he hoped the date could be brought forward, he could not provide guarantees.

Nkengason said he does not expect the vaccine market to reopen until the third quarter, and called on African leaders to adapt to that strategy.

A variant of the virus that is wreaking havoc in India has already been detected in several African countries, most notably Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

Nkengasong pushed for a three-pronged strategy: increasing testing; improve prevention through awareness programs; and boost the supply of vaccines and oxygen.

WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on African countries to remain vigilant until the vaccine crisis is resolved.

“What is happening in many other parts of the world can happen in our Africa if we let our guard down,” he told the AU meeting.

“In many countries, the emergence of rapidly spreading variants, public health and social measures with early mitigation and inadequate distribution of vaccines are having dire consequences.”

At the meeting of AU ministers, he was asked to strictly adhere to the guidelines for social exclusion, on a continent where there is some resistance to vaccines.

The Democratic Republic of Congo reported in late April that it had “relocated” 1.3 million “surplus” AstraZeneca vaccines to five neighboring countries.

The Ministry of Health has admitted that some parts of the population have refused to do so.

In some rich countries, the problem of low vaccine supply has begun to shift to surplus.

“The inappropriate distribution of vaccines is nothing more than a moral outrage. He is defeating himself economically and epidemiologically, ”Tedros said.