The Ghana Medical Association (GMA), has expressed fear over the possibility of the COVID-19 pandemic dragging on well into 2022.
President of the GMA, Dr. Frank Ankobea, believes the health systems of many African countries will be overwhelmed and finally breakdown, if they (African countries) do not acquire enough vaccines for a majority of the population to achieve herd immunity.
“If COVID-19 keeps going on, the health system of underdeveloped countries will be overwhelmed and breakdown. That will make medical health more expensive for us. If the virus spreads because we don’t have the vaccines, there will be a possible lockdown and the health sector will focus more on COVID-19 to the detriment of the non-communicable diseases and lives will be lost.”
According to him, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, it affected persons with comorbidity the most, and that put pressure on the health system and that cycle may affect the already weak medical infrastructure of many African countries. “We need to acquire the vaccines and kill COVID-19 otherwise it will not auger well for the health systems of developing countries. Our health systems are already weak and any shock will destabilize us,” he lamented.
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic will “go on for a year longer than it needs to” because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
Dr Bruce Aylward, senior leader at the WHO, said it meant the COVID-19 crisis could “easily drag on deep into 2022.”
Less than 5% of Africa’s population have been vaccinated, compared to 40% on most other continents.
The original idea behind Covax was that all countries would be able to acquire vaccines from its pool, including wealthy ones. But most G7 countries decided to hold back once they started making their own one-to-one deals with pharmaceutical companies.
The vast majority of COVID-19 vaccines overall have been used in high-income or upper middle-income countries. Africa accounts for just 2.6% of doses administered globally.
