On November 25, 2021, the South African Minister of Health Joe Phaahl announced in a press conference that scientists in the country had discovered the new Coronavirus variant Omikron. It only took a few hours for numerous countries to respond with travel restrictions. The British government was the first to cancel flights to and from countries in southern Africa such as South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. Similar travel bans followed through the EU, the USA, Japan, Canada and Australia. Surprisingly, some African countries also introduced restrictions, including Mauritius, Rwanda, Angola, and Egypt. They responded with travel bans or quarantine obligations for countries on the red list and people who have recently been there. The new Corona variant was discovered in other places, such as Germany, Israel, Hong Kong and Australia, but these countries were not banned from traveling.
The hasty travel stop for travelers from and to southern Africa – even before the variant was even discussed at the World Health Organization – had considerable negative effects. However, this did not stop the spread of the variant. It turned out that the mutated virus was already circulating in several countries, including the UK, Germany and Belgium. The Netherlands even stated that the omicron variant of the virus could be detected in a person who had already been tested on November 19. At the same time, the measures caused millions of euros in damage to the economies of southern Africa. The largest economic powerhouse in the region – South Africa – is struggling with record unemployment, among other things because of previous lockdowns. Numerous travel bookings for the Christmas season have now been canceled overnight. While the vacationers pay an emotional toll, South Africa has to cope with losses of around 62 million US dollars. It is a classic example of the person delivering bad news being punished.
South Africa is punished for being responsible
South Africa has some of the best genome sequencing facilities in the world, after all, the country has a lot of experience in combating HIV / AIDS and tuberculosis viruses. For the past two years, the country’s scientists have tirelessly participated in the global attempt to fight Covid-19 using science. With its report to the WHO, South Africa showed itself to be a responsible member of the international community and adhered to the organization’s rules for pandemics. South Africa acted transparently, responsibly and in a spirit of solidarity and collective action.
Under the premise that the rapid manufacture and distribution of vaccines is the key measure to combat the pandemic, South Africa and India jointly tabled a proposal for a World Trade Organization (WTO) temporary exemption for intellectual property rights in connection with vaccines in October 2020. More than a year later, this proposal, which is supported by more than 100 countries, got no further. It is rejected by some pharmaceutical-producing industrialized countries, with the USA meanwhile also supporting the demand for a suspension.
In Africa, only 6.66 percent of people have been vaccinated so far – compared to 66 percent in Europe and 67.5 percent in North America. South Africa was able to vaccinate 23.66 percent of its population. Given the stark inequality in the production and distribution of vaccines, one needn’t wonder about the mutation of Covid-19. The more you allow the virus to spread, the more it mutates. Nevertheless, countries repeatedly respond to the pandemic with unilateral measures and increased isolation. Many of these countries are the same ones who lament the instability of multilateralism and rhetorically extol the importance of collective action.
The industrial nations have failed
The industrialized countries have not kept their promises to support the developing countries financially in the purchase of vaccination doses and their quick vaccination. The WHO target of vaccinating 40 percent of the world’s population by the end of the year will therefore not be achieved.
There were also commitments to set up vaccine production facilities in Africa, but nothing concrete has been seen so far. The transfer of know-how should also be a must. The decentralization of vaccine production and support for the development of regional value chains would enable the developing countries to be supplied more quickly than the COVAX initiative for the equitable distribution of vaccine has succeeded. COVAX itself was dependent on a single source: the Serum Institute in India.
The pandemic cannot be combated by unilateral entry bans that are imposed on some countries but not on others. Travel bans impact the lives and conditions of the most vulnerable, but do not stop the spread of mutations. The real challenge is to speed up access to vaccines and that should be tackled collectively.
Science is the tool that enables a collective fight against the pandemic. It must not be instrumentalized for short-term political gain.
We must now prepare for the next pandemic
The current variant can no longer prevent the promises made to be kept and fairer access to vaccines possible. But it remains necessary to build the infrastructure for an effective global response to pandemics. Decentralized vaccine production urgently needs to be the focus of attention – also in order to prepare for the next, surely coming pandemic.
Developed countries must also bring more vaccine doses to developing countries faster and must not undermine WHO’s attempts to better coordinate joint action. This includes distributing surplus vaccine doses to developing countries to avoid vaccine hoarding or even deterioration. And governments need to ensure that future contracts with vaccine suppliers do not prohibit them from giving away excess doses of vaccine to prevent systematic man-made shortages. And finally, greater cooperation at global level should ensure that distribution is not hindered by logistical problems, particularly disruptions in supply chains.
To do this, the industrialized countries must seriously negotiate the suspension of license rights so that production can be increased around the world. Instead, the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference has been postponed because of the proliferation of Omikron. That’s exactly what shouldn’t happen.
In “Our Common Agenda”, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the scenario of an ongoing crisis in which the social contract has been eroded, international institutions are caught in a negative spiral, unilateralism is preferred to solidarity and no consensus on facts, science and Knowledge exists.
Imposing travel restrictions on countries in southern Africa, prematurely and on the assumption that the virus originated in the region, as well as other similar unilateral actions, are leading the world towards collapse and the perennial crisis that Guterres warned about.
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