Under that headline, Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, and former Chairman of the African Union, wrote an op ed in the Feb. 9 Guardian newspaper, pressing the need for vaccinating Africa and developing nations, as well as the entirety of the world’s population, against COVID-19.
Kagame stated, “The current situation with regard to the access and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines vividly illustrates the decades-old contradictions of the world order. Rich and powerful nations have rushed to lock up supply of multiple vaccine candidates…. This leaves African and other developing countries either far behind in the vaccine queue, or not in it at all….The pressures on political leaders to vaccinate all their citizens before sharing supplies with others is understandable. But forcing smaller or poorer countries to wait until everyone in the north has been catered for is shortsighted.
“Delaying access to vaccines for citizens of developing countries is ultimately many times more costly.” He warned, “The pandemic will rage on, crippling the global economy. New mutations may continue to emerge at a more rapid pace. The world risks reversing decades of human development gains…. We need global value chains to be fully operational again and to include everyone.
