COVID-19: Stop vaccine nationalism, help Nigeria, others — SCI

The Save the Children International (SCI) has urged governments to stop vaccine nationalism, and support countries in Africa, including Nigeria, with provision of oxygen and other supplies to stem the spread of the disease. The SCI Country Director for Malawi, Kim Koch, who made the plea on Friday in a statement, said the case fatality […]

The Save the Children International (SCI) has urged governments to stop vaccine nationalism, and support countries in Africa, including Nigeria, with provision of oxygen and other supplies to stem the spread of the disease.

The SCI Country Director for Malawi, Kim Koch, who made the plea on Friday in a statement, said the case fatality rate across Africa is now at 2.5 percent, above the global average of 2.2 percent, coupled with the rapid spread of the highly contagious South African variant of particular concern.

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She also urged federal governments to follow the World Health Organisation (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) guidelines when making vaccine allocation decisions.

Koch noted that Africa has six of the top 10 countries with the fastest increase in the numbers of confirmed cases.

According to her, the continent’s COVID-19 mortality rate is also now higher than the global average, marking a grim development from previous phases of the virus.

“Though staff are working tirelessly to deliver support for children in an increasingly challenging situation. People are sick or in quarantine, many are caring for sick family members, balancing child-care at home, or facilitating funerals or memorials.

“Our teams are hit as well, and have to adapt their plans in order to work as safely as possible, taking into account the regulations for working in a pandemic. Whenever safe and necessary, we will continue to carry out lifesaving support to address the immediate healthcare crisis in the country,” she said.

Also, the SCI Regional Director in East and Southern Africa, Ian Vale, said, “High-income countries are currently securing vaccines that could potentially be at the expense of COVAX.

“This pandemic has stressed that our own protection is rooted in the protection of others – no one safe until everyone is safe,” he said.