Covid jabs: What about Africa?

by GERRY LOUGHRAN


Midsummer’s Dream’, ‘Lockdown End in Sight’, ‘118 Days to Freedom’ … happy newspaper headlines reflected relief and optimism about a path out of the pandemic, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined to the nation last week.

Four crucial dates were set: March 8, Children go back to school; April 12, Shops, gyms, hairdressers reopen; May 17, Hospitality resumes, including pubs and restaurants; June 21, All legal limits on social contacts removed.

The good news came with a serious warning, however, that Covid mortality and infection figures would be closely watched and the proposed timetable shut down if they turned negative.

The UK death toll already tops 121,000 (against 100,000 in the whole of Africa) and experts fear for the National Health Service if its doctors and nurses should be confronted with a new wave of seriously ill patients.

Happily, the figures for deaths, new infections and hospital admissions have slowed markedly of late. Much of the credit is given to the provision of anti-Covid vaccines, which are being delivered at the rate of nearly half a million jabs a day.


Reaping rewards

Britain moved earlier than most countries in buying up vaccines and is now reaping the rewards. But what about the world’s poorer nations?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only five countries in sub-Saharan Africa are vaccinating: South Africa, Seychelles, Rwanda, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. Most African nations are still seeking supplies. “It is deeply unjust that the most vulnerable Africans are forced to wait for vaccines,” said WHO expert Matshidiso Moeti.

The UK, which has ordered 400 million doses, will have many left over and has said it will donate most of the surplus to poorer nations. Where Africa is pinning its hopes, however, is on the WHO-sponsored scheme Covax, which aims to provide vaccines where they are most needed.


Impact crucial

The WHO expects that Africa will begin receiving doses from the scheme by the end of this month. Covax aims to deliver more than two billion doses to 190 countries in less than a year.

The countries most likely to receive the first vaccines include Afghanistan, Haiti, DR Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Since the pandemic has already claimed the lives of more than two million people worldwide, Covax’s impact will be crucial.

The scheme has raised £4.3 billion but says it needs at least another £1.4 billion.

The UK government has provided £548 million and the United States has pledged £3 billion. One of President Biden’s first acts in office was to sign the United States up to Covax.

* * *

British people don’t like the idea of eating spider crabs, the name puts them off. Nor do they fancy megrim sole – what sort of fish is that, they ask?

As a result, UK fishermen have always targeted the European market for these two items.

The continent gets 98 per cent of the megrim sole catch and 85 per cent of spider crabs, which are particularly popular in Spain.

However, Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union has led to border hold-ups, which threaten the freshness of the products. A solution? To target the home market by renaming the two species.

Megrim sole are now known as Cornish sole and spider crabs as Cornish king crabs. An exporter said, “There was something negative about the names, they were unloved species.”

Investigation revealed the change of name immediately attracted more people to try the two items.

* * *

Regular readers of this column might recall some jokey comments last week about how old age and cunning will always beat youth and naivety.

Alas, nothing has changed since then.

An old man retired and bought a house near a school, but his hopes for peace and quiet were dashed when three boys kept running down the street banging every rubbish bin on the way.

The old man went out and told the boys how much he enjoyed the noise and he would give them 20 shillings each to keep banging.

Surprised and delighted, the boys banged happily every day.

A week later, the old man went out looking sad and said times were hard and he could only pay them 10 shillings.

The boys were not happy about this but accepted the offer and continued to bang the bins.

A few days after that, the old man said his pension had not come and he could only pay them a shilling. The boys were outraged.

“If you think we’re going to beat the bins for a lousy bob, you’re mistaken,” they said. “We quit.”

And the old man enjoyed peace and quiet from then on.