Vaccine Apartheid Includes Dumping Expiring Vaccines on Africa
The Global North is responding to vaccine inequality by dumping near-expired doses on African countries without infrastructure to disseminate them in time. Those doses end up in the trash — and it’s the fault of rich countries.
Some African countries are capable of manufacturing their own vaccines, if only the Global North would waive intellectual property rights. (Mika Baumeister / Unsplash)
The emergence and rapid domination of the Omicron variant is the sharp reminder that COVID-19 remains a global threat, and that vaccinating the whole world is the only way forward. Yet the Global North continues to accept reality of vaccine apartheid, while the rest of the world, particularly Africa, pays the price.
Vaccines have been and remain in short supply in Africa after countries in the Global North hoarded all initial orders from pharmaceutical companies and refused to waiver vaccine patents. As a result, African countries have struggled to secure enough vaccines to roll out mass immunization campaigns. Many are reliant on donations from global vaccine scheme COVAX, co-led by the WHO and partners, including the Gavi vaccine alliance.
Despite deliveries of vaccines to Africa increasing in recent months, there have been claims that weak health care systems and limited infrastructure are holding back rollouts once they arrive. Another, related issue has emerged, too: vaccine wastage.
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