This archive report was first published on 21 December 2021.
Africa's Omicron Variant: A Tale of Two Pandemics ¶
December 21, 2021
As I prepared to leave Johannesburg and head back to Dubai, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disbelief at the rapid spread of the Omicron variant across Africa. Just a week earlier, I had been attending the Intra-Africa Trade Fair in Durban, where executives and policymakers were optimistic about the continent's resilience and potential for growth.
However, the swift imposition of travel bans by countries like the UK and others has left many Africans stranded, with little certainty about their future. I was fortunate to be able to stay with family and continue working, but many others were not so lucky.
South Africa has been praised for its efforts in genomic sequencing and transparency, but it has also been punished for these efforts. As CNN's senior medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, pointed out, travel restrictions may offer an 'illusion of protection' but do little to contain the spread of the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for borders to remain open, citing the need for global solidarity and the exploitation of African divisions. The ongoing conversation about vaccine inequality is also a pressing issue, with South Africa lagging behind much of the world in vaccination rates.
According to Our World in Data, less than 25% of South Africa's population is fully vaccinated, compared to over 59% in the United States and almost 69% in the UK. The number of actual doses given is even more stark, with the USA having administered 459 million doses and China 2.33 billion, while South Africa has given just 25.4 million.
As we know, the unvaccinated are the greatest threat to the global recovery from Covid-19. It is among this population that mutations are occurring, and it is these people who are endangering any kind of return to normal life. So why do so many African countries lag so far behind the world when it comes to vaccinations, and what can be done to change that?
One possible opportunity is local manufacture of vaccines. There has been considerable resistance to sharing vaccine patents, particularly from the European Union. However, nursing unions in 28 countries around the world have called for the temporary waiver of patents for Covid vaccines, citing the unjust distribution of vaccines and the staggering numbers of deaths that have resulted.
Placing manufacturing in the hands of local companies at least removes a significant step from an already complex supply chain. Janssen Pharmaceuticals has announced a deal with South Africa's Aspen Pharma, which will enable Aspen to sell the J&J vaccine to African countries under its own brand.
The idea of waiving patents for life-saving drugs takes me back to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, when people in Sub-Saharan Africa were dying at an alarming rate while pharmaceutical companies held tightly onto IP rights of antiretrovirals. When treatment cost thousands of dollars, poorer nations simply couldn't afford to save their people. After much negotiation, pharma companies relented and allowed generic drug makers to reverse-engineer ARVs for the African market. It was a game-changing moment.
There remain major logistical and psychological challenges beyond local manufacture and patent sharing, of course. Vaccine hesitancy is a persistent and difficult obstacle to overcome in South Africa, and transport and refrigeration are major issues in many African countries.
As I sit here in Johannesburg, scanning the newswires and consulting with travel agents, I'm also struck by a wider lesson here, one that we were supposed to learn from Covid, but clearly have not. The pandemic was supposed to be an opportunity for us to come together, united against a common foe. It has produced extraordinary tales of bravery, ingenuity, and resilience, as well as profound loss and tragedy; but it has also exacerbated divisions and turned many of us inward.
South Africa's unemployment rate is a staggering 35%, with the hardest hit sectors being hospitality and tourism. The UN has warned that more African countries will be plunged into poverty thanks to these latest bans. The Malawian President has called the bans 'Afrophobic', and it's hard to disagree with him.
