The Pain Of Getting The Jab

The COVAX Facility and the African Union are struggling to bring some relief to Africa which has been suffering from vaccine apartheid

- Latha Jishnu

NOT HEADS of state or even popular celebrities have received the kind of reception that vaccine shipments are getting in Africa as it struggles against a resurgence of the covid-19 pandemic. As the first tranche of the vaccines against the SARS-COV-2 virus arrives in select nations, heads of government and senior cabinet ministers have turned up to receive the precious vials, acknowledging their critical importance to a region that has suffered from covid-19 nationalism—the tendency of developed countries to retain and corner supplies of therapies, equipment and vaccines for their own citizens while depriving needy populations elsewhere.

On February 1, 2021, as an Emirates flight landed at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport carrying AstraZeneca’s vaccine, the South Africa Broadcasting Corp was on hand to film the momentous event from the time the plane touched down in pouring rain at 3 pm. It was the first lot of vaccines to arrive in the continent and President Cyril Ramaphosa and top officials were present to receive the one million doses that the South African government had bought from the Serum Institute of India (SII), the major licensed manufacturer of the AstraZeneca vaccine.