{"id":162014,"date":"2022-01-14T02:11:01","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T02:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/africa\/covids-aftershocks-nigerias-planned-vaccine-production\/"},"modified":"2024-01-25T11:51:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T11:51:05","slug":"nigeria-covid-vaccine-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/africa\/stories\/nigeria-covid-vaccine-production\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID’s Aftershocks: Nigeria\u2019s planned vaccine production"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top news<\/h2>\n

Lost generation:<\/strong>\u00a0Uganda\u2019s schools reopened after nearly two years of COVID-19 closures \u2013 the longest in the world.\u00a0More than 50%<\/a>\u00a0of students stopped learning as a result. One-third of students are expected to stay out of school, instead working to support their families. And many teachers have been lost to other professions. The situation is similarly dire in South Africa, where\u00a0at least 775,000 students<\/a>\u00a0have dropped out and teen pregnancies have\u00a0increased by 60%<\/a>. The changing nature of the virus means it will\u00a0continue to impact children<\/a>, and\u00a0schools will remain on the pandemic frontlines<\/a>. The current generation of students\u00a0risks losing<\/a>\u00a0$17 trillion in lifetime earnings as a result of pandemic-related school closures.<\/p>\n

On the money:\u00a0<\/strong>Sixty-five institutional investors managing over $3.5 trillion in assets\u00a0are urging<\/a>\u00a0Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson to ensure equitable access to their COVID-19 vaccines. And to make sure it happens, they want to tie executive pay to vaccine equality. We love to see it. But it\u2019s not just investors: Ireland\u2019s President Michael D Higgins\u00a0wrote to European heads of state<\/a>\u00a0calling on them to recognise the need to supply low-income countries with doses. Sounds like they\u2019re\u00a0finally listening to experts<\/a>. Or maybe\u00a0Olympic and Paralympic athletes<\/a>\u00a0speaking out did the trick.<\/p>\n

Homemade solution:<\/strong>\u00a0Tired of waiting for vaccine deliveries and receiving\u00a0nearly expired<\/a>\u00a0doses, Nigeria has announced a plan to produce its\u00a0own COVID vaccine<\/a>. The country aims to vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of 2022 \u2013 which will require a tripling of its vaccination rate. Not only is localized vaccine production in Africa\u00a0\u201cgood for the world<\/em>\u201d<\/a>, it\u2019s also a good step towards breaking down the\u00a0pharmaceutical monopoly<\/a>, which African experts have been calling for all along. Speaking of: we\u2019re still\u00a0waiting on that TRIPS waiver.<\/p>\n

Modern(a) dilemma:<\/strong>\u00a0Moderna\u2019s shareholders were excited this week by the company\u2019s\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0projected sales of $17-22 billion in 2022. Stakeholders in global well-being have been less enthused with Moderna, which remains\u00a0last out of major vaccine producers<\/a>\u00a0for doses shared. Moderna says it plans to develop an Omicron-specific booster shot, which sounds great \u2014 but it would be even better paired with a solidarity-based approach to vaccinating the world. Meanwhile, the UK government has spent \u00a3370 billion on fighting the pandemic at home. Compare that to the mere\u00a0\u00a350 billion<\/a>\u00a0spent by\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0countries on the global response. Feels a bit like leaders are\u00a0making some empty promises.<\/p>\n

Return on investment:<\/strong>\u00a0The world is set to\u00a0become more unequal<\/a>\u00a0amidst a global economic slowdown, with growth\u00a0forecast to shrink<\/a>\u00a0from 5.5% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2023. Developing economies will be hardest hit because of the pandemic\u2019s impact on inflation rates, global and local supply chains, employment, education, health, and food security. This will\u00a0ultimately lead to<\/a>\u00a0increased tensions, within and across borders. Meanwhile, China \u2013 Africa\u2019s largest bilateral lender \u2013 has signaled a\u00a0slowdown<\/a>\u00a0in its lending to Africa. This could have devastating impacts, with the World Bank forecasting that vulnerable economies could see growth decline 7.5% from pre-pandemic levels. But in some places, the future is here: the South African tourism industry\u00a0has already lost<\/a>\u00a0over 1 billion rand, while more than 50% of households in Nigeria\u00a0have cut back<\/a>\u00a0on food due to pandemic-related wage cuts and inflation hikes.<\/p>\n

Uh-O(micron):\u00a0<\/strong>New research in South Africa suggests that Omicron\u00a0may yield<\/a>\u00a0more asymptomatic cases than earlier variants, increasing its transmissibility and the likelihood of new variants. There\u2019s\u00a0already evidence<\/a>\u00a0of new variants, and Africa serves as a case in point for increased transmissibility, as the continent is recording record high daily cases. Cases are similarly breaking records in other parts of the world; the US recorded the\u00a0all-time highest daily cases<\/a>\u00a0of 1.35 million on Monday. But the increase in cases on a continent where less than 10% of the population is fully vaccinated (versus over 70% vaccination rates in high- and middle-income countries) is more than a worry: it\u2019s a disaster of the world\u2019s making.<\/p>\n

Back to the future:<\/strong>\u00a0In some parts of the world,\u00a0calls are growing<\/a>\u00a0to return to normal and to treat COVID-19 like an endemic disease, including ending\u00a0mass vaccine campaigns<\/a>\u00a0?. Smells like privilege, because many countries have barely begun to vaccinate their populations with first doses \u2014 much less third doses. As South Africa\u2019s Omicron wave subsides, President Cyril Ramaphosa is\u00a0reevaluating drastic approaches<\/a>\u00a0to curb cases, but he\u2019s also calling for a\u00a0ramp up of vaccination<\/a>, once again highlighting the startling divide in pandemic timelines between low- and high-income countries.<\/p>\n

Speedbump:<\/strong>\u00a0Early indications that Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines\u00a0may be less effective<\/a>\u00a0at preventing infection from Omicron is bad news for vaccine equity and ending the pandemic. Those two vaccines account for almost half of the world\u2019s vaccinations and jointly are the second largest administered vaccine in Africa. AstraZeneca\u2019s vaccine, the most widely administered in Africa,\u00a0also fares worse against Omicron<\/a>. The good news is they still appear to\u00a0prevent hospitalizations and severe illness<\/a>. Plus, we know the perfect destination for the 100 million Omicron-targeted doses\u00a0Pfizer hopes to produce this year<\/a>: Africa.<\/p>\n

Too soon?:<\/strong>\u00a0The WHO has\u00a0come out against<\/a>\u00a0increasing calls to label Omicron as \u201cmild,\u201d with not enough evidence available yet to support the claim. WHO also noted that a shift to treating the disease as endemic would require stable and predictable transmission, which is not currently the case. This follows\u00a0last week\u2019s warning<\/a>\u00a0that Omicron is unlikely to be the last COVID-19 variant we face. One thing that certainly\u00a0has<\/em>\u00a0been predictable during the pandemic is the failure of a state-based order to reliably respond to an international health crisis. ??\u200d\u2640\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Killing time:<\/strong>\u00a0The WHO hasn\u2019t been able to get medical supplies to Tigray\u00a0since July last year<\/a>, an effective blockage with a dire humanitarian toll. At the same time, the biggest hospital in the region is\u00a0running out of food<\/a>, and others are simply closing due to lack of supplies \u2013 again, linked to the blockade.<\/p>\n

The numbers<\/h2>\n