By Sola Ogundipe

A new analysis which exposes the severity of vaccine inequity between high-income and low-income countries, has revealed that the G20 member countries have received 15 times more COVID-19 vaccine doses per capita than sub-Saharan African countries and other lower-income countries.

The analysis, conducted by science analytics company Airfinity, also revealed that the G20 member countries have received three times higher than doses delivered per capita in all other countries combined.

The analysis came ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome today, as 48 UNICEF Africa ambassadors and supporters unite, and called on countries to deliver doses by December.

The country dose delivery comparisons from the Airfinity analysis showed that, for instance, vaccine doses delivered per capita to the UK are 12 times higher than doses delivered per capita to Kenya; doses delivered per capita to Canada are 34 times higher than doses delivered per capita to Sudan, while the doses delivered per capita to Italy are 13 times higher than doses delivered per capita to Uganda.

Similarly, the vaccine doses delivered per capita to Japan are 18 times higher than doses delivered per capita to Ethiopia, while the doses delivered per capita to Germany are 16 times higher than doses delivered per capita to Ghana and Cameroon combined.

UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, in a statement, noted: “Vaccine inequity is not just holding the poorest countries back – it is holding the world back. As leaders meet to set priorities for the next phase of the COVID-19 response, it is vital they remember that, in the COVID vaccine race, we either win together, or we lose together.

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“Saving lives in Africa starts by saving the lives of the life-savers. Too many communities on the African continent were already grappling with stressed healthcare systems. They cannot go into another year of this global crisis enduring so many preventable deaths and prolonged sickness,” said Fore.

According to UNICEF, wealthy countries with more supplies than they need have generously pledged to donate these doses to low- and middle-income countries via COVAX but these promised doses are moving too slowly. Of the 1.3 billion additional doses countries have pledged to donate, only 194 million doses have been provided to COVAX.

African countries, in particular, have largely been left without access to COVID-19 vaccines. Less than 5 per cent of the African population are fully vaccinated, leaving many countries at high-risk of further outbreaks.

In an open letter to the G20 Summit, 48 UNICEF Africa ambassadors and supporters from across the continent have united, calling for leaders to honour their promises to urgently deliver doses, writing that “the stakes could not be higher.”

The letter’s signatories, including Angelique Kidjo, Arlo Parks, Davido, Tendai Mtawarira, Femi Kuti, Tony Elumelu, Ramla Ali, Kate Henshaw, Winnie Byanyima and others, are calling on leaders to donate the pledged vaccines by December, along with the necessary resources to turn the vaccines into vaccinations.

The letter reads: “Every day Africa remains unprotected, pressure builds on fragile health systems where there can be one midwife for hundreds of mothers and babies.

“As the pandemic causes a spike in child malnutrition, resources are diverted from life-saving health services and childhood immunization.

“Children already orphaned risk losing grandparents. Disaster looms for sub-Saharan African families, four out of five of whom rely on the informal sector for their daily bread. Poverty threatens children’s return to school, protection from violence and child marriage.”

According to WHO, some 80,000 to 180,000 healthcare workers globally are estimated to have died from COVID-19 between January 2020 and May 2021.

Less than 1 in 10 healthcare workers in Africa have been fully vaccinated and more than 128,000 have been infected with the virus.

The agency has also found only one in seven COVID-19 infections are detected in Africa due to limited testing, meaning the true number is likely much higher.

Vanguard News Nigeria