Africa Suffered More In Pandemic Than Was Thought
New studies suggest both infection counts and death figures have been undermeasured across Africa, leading to the impression the continent was doing better against covid than it really was. To support vaccinations in Africa, the U.S. is spending $250 million to help poorer nations.
The Washington Post:
Africa May Have Been Hit Harder By The Coronavirus Pandemic Than Anyone Knew
It’s one of the enduring mysteries of covid-19: Why didn’t the pandemic hit low-income African nations as hard as wealthy countries in North America and Europe? There is no simple answer to that question. But this week, two new studies added to our understanding of it. One suggested that the number of covid-19 cases may be vastly undercounted across the continent; another found good evidence that the number of deaths in at least one country could be significantly undercounted. (Taylor, 2/18)
Axios:
U.S. To Spend $250 Million In Vaccine Support To African Countries
The Biden administration will ramp up its support of efforts to vaccinate the world with a "surge" in assistance to 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a USAID spokesperson confirmed Thursday. The global supply of vaccines has largely gone to developed nations. Officials worry that new COVID-19 variants could emerge from countries with low vaccination rates. (Gonzalez, 2/17)
Bloomberg:
Vaccination In Africa: Six Countries To Get MRNA Technology From WHO
The World Health Organization said six countries in Africa will be given technology to produce mRNA Covid-19 vaccines as part of its vaccine hub program that bypasses major pharmaceutical producers of the doses including Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia were approved as the first recipients of the initiative, which aims to give countries in Africa the tools and know-how to produce their own shots, the WHO said. (Hoffman, 2/18)
In other news from Africa —
Bloomberg:
Malawi Has Its First Wild Polio Case In Three Decades
The first wild polio virus case in 30 years has been confirmed in Malawi, sparking concern that the disease that causes paralysis could spread from the only two countries where it is endemic, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Malawian case in the capital, Lilongwe, has been tied to a strain of the virus found in an outbreak in Pakistan’s Sindh province in 2019, the Global Polio Laboratory Network said in a statement on Thursday. The samples from the three-year-old girl were collected in late November after onset of paralysis. (Sguazzin, 2/18)
