Since the development of COVID-19 vaccines, rapid immunization program has been on the go in many of developing countries focusing on priority groups like people in their 60s, 70s and above; and front-line health professionals, who are clinically vulnerable and the rest of the people n in descending order.
However, for those poor countries, especially African countries, the COVID-19 doses remain relatively unreachable and scarce owing to various reasons including the limitation of vaccines production, vaccines nationalism and vaccines hesitancy.
As many organizations and individuals suggested, most of the poorest countries are still left so far behind in the provision of COVID-19 vaccination. Due to this, a large part of the continent remains unvaccinated.
According to Dr. Ahmed Ogwell, Deputy Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, Ethiopia, there are a few factors are contributing to the low rate of immunization. One is that there are a few entities that are actually manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines while the whole world wants the vaccines. So access is heavily limited by the rate of supply of the vaccines.
The other reason, as to him, is that the relativity well to do countries bought up the vast majority of the vaccines that are to be made available during this year, because what we want are vaccines now. We do not want vaccines in 2022, 2023. And those vaccines that could be made available now have already been bought up. And in that way, it means that even though we have the money, we cannot be able to buy because there is nothing to buy. And we are negotiating very hard with the manufacturers to see if we can be able to get some of these items earlier.
Vaccine nationalism is the other challenge that has limited the accessibility of the doses. Even those countries that are manufacturing the doses keep everything that is being manufactured within their borders instead of distributing to other countries, he said.
These are though the reasons for the limitation; it is undeniable fact that some countries are distributing the vaccines to poor countries committedly. Among these, China is at the frontline. The country, since the outbreak of the pandemic has been distributing various items to Africa, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medical equipment and other similar items.
To this point, the country has provided over 770 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 countries, ranking first globally. it
Recently, at the first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation held last week August 5via video links. China has confirmed its commitment in providing COVID-19 vaccine assistance to Ethiopia and other countries
Addressing the forum, President Xi Jinping said that COVID-19 is still raging with flare-ups and mutations. Committed to building a global community of health for all, China is providing vaccines to the world, particularly developing countries, and is actively advancing cooperation on vaccine production.
“This is also in line with China’s pledge of making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good. China will continue to do its best to help other developing countries cope with the virus.”
President Xi announced that China will strive to provide two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world throughout this year and 100 million USD to the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility, another major move to honor the commitment of making vaccines a global public good and also make new contributions to the global cooperation against COVID-19.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also noted that inequitable distribution and unbalanced vaccination remain prominent challenges. The immunization gap deserves high attention from the international community.
“To secure a victory of this fight that bears on the future, we have no option but to stay united and work together. China has donated and is donating vaccines to more than 100 countries so far, and has exported more than 770 million doses of vaccines to over 60 countries, the most of any nation in the world.” Wang Yi added.
In the face of COVID-19, China and Ethiopia have always been supporting each other, setting a shining example of China-Africa solidarity against COVID-19. China will continue to help Ethiopia cope with the virus through variety channels, and the number of vaccine doses China donated and is going to donate has reached one million. The upcoming batch of vaccines will arrive in Addis Ababa in August.
As to the Foreign Minister, the number of infection and death cases continues to grow worldwide, mostly fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant. The international community must work together to overcome the challenges of the times. China is committed to promoting international vaccine cooperation, making vaccines a global public good and advancing its accessibility and affordability, especially to meet the needs of developing countries.
China and Ethiopia are close partners sharing weal and woe together. And China stands ready to strengthen solidary with Ethiopia in combating the pandemic, and make its contributions to safeguarding Ethiopian people’s health and well-being, Wang Yi remarked.
BY STAFF REPORTER
The Ethiopian Herald 12 August 2021
