Inequity and hesitation about vaccines have made the Omicron variant more likely, say scientists.
What scientists do know is that the virus is more likely to mutate in places where vaccination is low and transmission is high.
“It could have emerged in another country and was discovered in South Africa, where there is a very, very good genome sequencing capacity and capacity … it could be the result of an outbreak development, possibly in some areas of sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Head, a senior researcher in global health at the University of Southampton, told CNN in a telephone interview with a large number of supervisors. close genomics and low vaccination rates.
Head says the emergence of new variants is “a natural consequence of the world being too slow to vaccinate.”
“We still have a large population of unvaccinated populations, like we have in sub-Saharan Africa, and these populations are very susceptible to outbreaks,” he said.
New variants of the virus that have caused problems in the past, Head added, have all emerged from places that have experienced large, uncontrolled outbreaks, such as when the Alpha variant was first introduced. was discovered in the UK last December or the Delta variant was first found in India in February.
But scientists and public health experts and advocates have warned that the huge gap between vaccination rates in developed and developing countries could be to blame.
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust health research charity, said the new variant shows why the world needs to ensure more equitable access to vaccines and public health tools. plus other.
“The new variants are a reminder, if we need to, that the pandemic is far from over,” he said on Twitter. “Inequality is what will prolong the pandemic.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only 7.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Across the eight countries most affected by the travel ban associated with the Omicron variant, the proportion of the population who received at least one dose of the vaccine ranged from 5.6% in Malawi to 37% in Botswana.
Meanwhile, 63.9% of people in high-income countries have received at least one injection, according to WHO. In both the European Union and the United States, about 70% of people have received at least one shot, according to the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While there are many reasons why a country might have a lower vaccination rate – vaccine hesitancy remains a major problem in many countries, including South Africa – Head said the lack of continued coverage. Access to dosage is a big problem.
“One contribution to this is that rich countries are hoarding doses higher than we really need and not following through on vaccine funding commitments to COVAX or directly to the countries themselves,” he said. that family.
COVAX is WHO’s global vaccine sharing program. As of last month, 537 million doses had been shipped through the program to 144 countries – a small percentage of the 7.9 billion doses administered globally to date.
WHO’s goal of having 40% of the population of all countries vaccinated by the end of 2021 and 70% by the middle of next year seems out of reach, with only two African countries – Morocco and Tunisia – is currently on track. purpose.
“In the absence of mass vaccination, Covid not only spread uninhibited among the unprotected, but also mutated, with new variants emerging from the poorest countries and now threatening market themselves to even fully vaccinated people in the wealthiest countries in the world.” he wrote.
The chief agreed with that assessment. “It’s absolutely coming back to bite us…until the pandemic is resolved…and that involves vaccinating every corner of the world, then it could flare up again. , we’ve seen that with Delta in India.”
And Dr Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, said the reaction of the wealthy to the news that South African scientists had discovered a new variant was: an example of their own selfishness.
“What I find disgusting and really saddening… is not just the travel ban being implemented by the UK and Europe but that is the only response, or the strongest response.
“There is no word of support that they will provide African countries to help us control the pandemic and especially not to mention addressing the vaccine inequality that we have warned about.” this year and [of which] He told CNN.
.
