African Governments Decry the Vaccine Inequity
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- As rich nations deliberate on providing booster COVID-19 shots to their population, African nations have decried the low distribution of vaccines to the continent
- "The virus doesn’t know continents, borders, even less nationalities or social statuses," Chad's president Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno told the U.N General Assembly Thursday.
- Itno reiterated to the Assemby that no one is safe unless everyone is safe, adding that the countries that have received few vaccines may become an incubator for new variants of the virus
- As of mid-September, fewer than 4% of Africans have been fully immunized, with most of the 5.7 billion vaccine doses distributed to only 10 wealthy nations
- The U.S., UK, France, Germany, and Israel are among countries that have begin administering or preparing to administer vaccine boosters
- The World Health Organization continues to advise against the move, asking wealthy nations to wait out booster shots to allow more equitable distribution of the vaccines
