Stop hoarding vaccines, no one is safe until everyone is safe – Akufo-Addo fires EU
President of the Republic of Ghana and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has criticized European countries over allegations of them hoarding Covid-19 vaccines.
He complained that such geopolitics cutting deep through the distribution process of the vaccines is not helping matters especially in fighting the pandemic.
President Akufo-Addo laid his complaints bare before the European Parliament on Tuesday, December 14, 2021, where he indicated that less than 10% of Africa’s Population have been inoculated as against 70% of the EU population as of August 2021.
He lamented that such a situation does not augur well in the collective fight against the virus as he said no one is safe until everyone is safe.
President Akufo-Addo called on the EU to ensure there is equitable distribution of vaccines across the board to ensure the collective safety of all.
“The unsavoury politics of vaccine nationalism we are witnessing could however potentially derail global efforts made at containing the pandemic. To date, less than 10% of Africa has been vaccinated in comparison to the EU for example which as of August has vaccinated 70% of its population.”
“The phenomenon of hoarding vaccines will worsen even further as countries begin to administer booster shots in response to the threats posed by the Omicron variant of the virus. I am a firm believer in the statement that no one is safe until everyone is safe.”
President Akufo-Addo also criticized the travel bans against some African countries because of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus.
“We repeated our firm opposition to all attempts to single out African countries for the imposition of travel bans, as instruments of immigration control, when we are told, for example, that the Omicron variant of Covid-19, which was recently sequenced and reported by South African scientists, was discovered much earlier in the Netherlands”.
His complaints are coming on the back of the recent decision by the US, UK and EU to bar entry to travellers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Egypt, Mozambique, Malawi and Nigeria, following the discovery of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
