ACCRA, March 2, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo on
Monday became the first recipient of a coronavirus vaccine under the global
Covax scheme, as US health workers prepared to distribute nearly four million
doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab.
Covax, a scheme designed to ensure poorer countries do not miss out on
vaccinations, is aiming to deliver at least two billion jabs by the end of
the year.
Akufo-Addo received his AstraZeneca shot live on television along with his
wife, while in neighbouring Ivory Coast a presidential spokesman got the
country’s first jab, also part of a Covax delivery.
Ivory Coast received some 504,000 doses from Covax, while Ghana got 600,000
that it will start to roll out this week.
“It is important that I set the example that this vaccine is safe by being
the first to have it, so that everybody in Ghana can feel comfortable,” the
president said.
Colombia became the first country in the Americas to receive vaccines
through Covax, with President Ivan Duque hailing the day as “a very important
milestone.”
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed Covax’s
progress.
“It’s encouraging to see health workers in lower-income countries starting
to be vaccinated, but it’s regrettable that this comes almost three months
after some of the wealthiest countries started their vaccination campaigns,”
he said.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also got vaccinated on Monday —
although a glitch in the online booking system meant thousands of others were
turned away from hospitals nationwide.
And in the United States, 3.9 million doses of the one-shot Johnson &
Johnson vaccine are due to be delivered after it became the third jab
approved by US regulators.
The J&J rollout comes as a boost to President Joe Biden’s plan to beat back
a virus that has killed more than half a million Americans, making the US the
world’s worst-hit nation.
Also on Monday was the latest in a string of positive news about the
available vaccines: a British study showed that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca
vaccines were “highly effective” in preventing serious illness in older
people, with a more than 80 percent reduction in hospitalisation.
The real-world study came just hours before France reversed its decision
and authorised the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65.
Health Minister Olivier Veran said the vaccine would be extended to those
between 65-75 with comorbidities. Germany is also believed to be
reconsidering its refusal to authorise the vaccine for the elderly over
earlier concerns over its efficacy.
Despite the promising signs from vaccines, the WHO’s emergencies director
Michael Ryan said it was “unrealistic to think that we’re going to finish
with this virus by the end of the year”.
“But I think what we can finish with, if we’re smart, is the
hospitalisations, the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic,”
he added.
He pointed out that global new case numbers increased last week after six consecutive weeks of decline.
– Legal wrangle –
Vaccines are seen as crucial to returning the world to normality and
healing the economy after a pandemic that has claimed more than 2.5 million
lives across the globe.
More than 224 million doses have been administered worldwide, according to
national data compiled by AFP, with the Philippines among the latest
countries to launch a rollout on Monday.
A new row is brewing over a call led by India and South Africa for
intellectual property rights to the vaccines to be waived.
Backed by dozens of governments from Argentina to Bangladesh, they argue
that this would boost production and ultimately bring the pandemic to a
swifter end.
But the United States, the European Union and Switzerland — home to major
pharmaceutical firms — oppose the idea, which is being thrashed out at a
World Trade Organization meeting on Monday and Tuesday.
– Vaccine scepticism –
Meanwhile, the seesaw nature of virus restrictions continued.
Turkey rolled back some of its measures on Monday, reopening most
restaurants for indoor dining and allowing more students to return to school.
Finland announced a state of emergency and moved towards tighter rules,
while Germany began lifting curbs with the opening of salons.
“It’s such a relief,” Hans-Joachim Berthold, a 64-year-old Berliner, told
AFP after rushing to his newly opened hairdressers. “I couldn’t bear to look
at myself in the mirror before!”
But while inoculation campaigns are now well under way, the spread of
highly infectious Covid variants has fuelled worries that they could prove
more resistant to the vaccines.
Britain has appealed for a person infected with the potent Brazilian strain
to come forward after they failed to leave contact details while being tested
— meaning they could still be infecting others without knowing it.
In some countries, widespread vaccine scepticism remains another obstacle
to achieving mass immunity, although a survey of six countries suggests
willingness to get the jab is on the rise.
Even in France, the country with the least enthusiasm of those surveyed,
willingness is up to 59 percent, the study by KekstCNC found.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0938 hrs