Omicron: Did Africa get a raw deal?
What the emergence of the Omicron variant says about global cooperation against Covid
The emergence of the Omicron variant has once again highlighted the difficulty in preventing the pandemic from spreading across the globe. Health experts have long argued that regions like southern Africa, where the variant was first detected, are prone to dangerous mutations of the virus when large groups of people are left unvaccinated. Only a tenth of Africa's billion plus population have received their first dose and the continent is yet to create its own Covid vaccines. African nations are reliant on vaccines from the international alliance Covax but the supply is far less than what's required. Meanwhile many on the continent have opted to pursue traditional remedies, with some denying the existence of the virus altogether. So what's the road ahead for Africa as it tries to overcome the pandemic? What sort of public engagement is required to reduce vaccine hesitancy? And how is the fight against Covid made more difficult by other health emergencies?
Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts.
Producers: Paul Schuster and Junaid Ahmed.
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Contributors
Tolbert G Nyenswah - Senior Research Associate, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
Professor Hannelie Meyer - Head of the South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Stephanie Nolen - Global Health Reporter, New York Times
Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni - Senior Health Policy Advisor, People鈥檚 Vaccine Alliance
Featuring:
Dr Mary Stephen - Technical Officer, WHO Africa
Albert Bourla - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer
Dr Sabin Nsanzimana - Director General, Rwanda Biomedical Centre
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