By Bisola Adeyemo
The World Health Organization’s Africa regional body on Friday says the current wave of COVID-19 in Africa will soon become less severe off but warned that the “fight is far from over”.
WHO Africa’s director for communicable disease response Dr. Benido Impouma said that a fourth wave spreading throughout the continent during the festive season could be the “most brutal yet”.
Although the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic progressed more slowly in Africa than the rest of the world, by December 2020, the second wave appeared to be much more aggressive with many more cases.
The WHO is telling countries in Africa to use the intervening time of the relative dip in cases to get prepared by strengthening their capacities for a vaccine rollout.
Impouma also mentioned that inconsistent vaccine supply to date has been affecting people’s uptake of the vaccine.
African countries have mostly relied on donations to vaccinate their populations.
Leaders attending the UN General Assembly have criticized vaccine inequity in their speeches.