Uncontrolled spread gives Covid opportunities to evolve. The emergence of Omicron has highlighted the urgency of addressing low vaccination coverage in Africa and other places. Lack of supply has been a major barrier for months, but it's not the only one. 1/thread
Most people in high-income countries have been fully vaccinated but less than 10% of Africa’s population has. That puts the entire world at higher risk of new, potentially dangerous variants. Here are some of the challenges beyond supply that countries face. 2/
First, vaccine supply is unpredictable. Countries don’t know how much vaccine to expect and are often given short notice of shipments. Advance planning is crucial and we need better systems for projecting vaccine delivery. 3/
There’s also been underinvestment in vaccine distribution. Countries must manage several types of vaccine, each with different shelf lives and handling requirements (including cold storage). 4/
In addition, most donations to date don’t include necessary supplies such as syringes and diluent, or cover freight costs. 5/
Competing priorities. Covid isn’t the only threat many countries are facing. Outbreaks of measles and Ebola are urgent problems. There’s a need to catch up on polio vaccinations, HIV, TB, RCH treatment and other services, which were impacted by the pandemic. 6/
Covid has placed significant strain on health care systems that are already overburdened. 7/
Although high-income countries can afford the cost of vaccinating people against Covid, in more than half of African countries where estimates are available, the cost of vaccination exceeds the TOTAL government health expenditure, according to @CGDev. bit.ly/3IahjIY 8/
In some countries, low perception of Covid risk makes vaccination campaigns harder. We discuss in new #PERCAfrica country briefs. Governments must communicate clearly the benefits of vaccination using relevant messengers and messages. preventepidemics.org/perc 9/
These problems are hard, but solvable. With time, attention, predictable supply, and financial and material support from high-income countries, Africa can vaccinate a high proportion of their adult population. 10/
We can’t keep getting lulled into a false sense that the end of the pandemic is near. It’s not over, as Omicron has reminded us. Millions of lives are at stake—not just in Africa, but in every region. 11/end
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