Adeola Tukuru,
Save the Children (SCI) has called on governments to stop vaccine nationalism, and support countries in Southern Africa through the provision of oxygen and other supplies as they reel from extremely high rates of spread of the disease.
Save the Children also urged federal governments to follow World Health Organisation Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) guidelines when making vaccine allocation decisions.
Save the Children’s Country Director for Malawi, Kim Koch, in a press statement issued on Thursday said the case fatality rate across Africa is now at 2.5 percent, above the global average of 2.2 percent , with the rapid spread of the highly contagious South African variant of particular concern.
Kim further said Africa has six of the top ten countries with the fastest increase in the numbers of confirmed cases .
Kim said 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.
She said 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.”
Also, the Save the Children’s 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 .
“We understand it will be difficult to ensure equal access of the initial supply of vaccines, but governments must do what they can to make sure it’s as fair as possible and not further accelerate the huge global inequities we face today.
“This pandemic has stressed that our own protection is rooted in the protection of others – no one safe until everyone is safe,” he said.
