World Health Organization Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in South Africa on Feb. 11: “Our expectation is that the acute phase of this pandemic will end this year, of course with one condition, the 70% vaccination [target is achieved] by mid-year, around June, July,” reported Al Jazeera today.
“If that is to be done, the acute phase can really end, and that is what we are expecting. It’s in our hands. It’s not a matter of chance. It’s a matter of choice,” he emphasized.
He spoke at a press briefing after a visit to the Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines Center in South Africa, which has produced the first mRNA COVID vaccine made in Africa using Moderna’s sequence.
“We expect this vaccine to be more suited to the contexts in which it will be used, with fewer storage constraints and at a lower price,” he commented.
However, the vaccine won’t be ready for clinical trials until November 2022, and then utilized sometime in 2024. Only 11% of Africans are vaccinated, the lowest rate in the world.
Al Jazeera reported that on Feb. 10, “Matshidiso Moeti, Africa director for the WHO, said the continent is transitioning out of the pandemic phase of the COVID-19 outbreak. With a more optimistic view, she said Africa is moving towards a situation where it will be managing the virus over the long term.
“The pandemic is moving into a different phase. … We think that we’re moving now, especially with the vaccination expected to increase, into what might become a kind of endemic living with the virus,” Moeti told a media briefing Feb. 10. “Against the odds, including huge inequities in access to vaccinations, we’ve weathered the COVID-19 storm with resilience and determination.”
According to the World Bank, the pandemic is estimated to have pushed up to 40 million people into extreme poverty in Africa, and every month of delay in lifting containment measures is estimated to cost Africa $13.8bn in lost gross domestic product, Moeti said.
