Rwandan president Paul Kagame has lashed out at wealthy nations over the hoarding to coronavirus vaccines at a time other countries are struggling to start inoculation.
His comments contained in a tweet was in reaction to a submission by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization boss.
Tedros was addressing how deals between some high-income countries and manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines are undermining the WHO-led COVAX initiative by reducing the number of doses it can purchase.
“This is hypocrisy & double standards we have always talked about. Just one of the many and consequential examples!!!” Kagame tweeted.
Rwanda was one of the first African countries to role out vaccination weeks back. The first phase with vaccines reportedly from US manufacturer Moderna
targeted health workers and people with pre-existing conditions.
A number of African countries are awaiting consignment from different sources. Among others China’s Sinopharm, Russia’s Sputnik V, United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson and the US’ Pfizer and Moderna.
The African Union’s Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team is an umbrella body that seeks to help countries to get vaccines. The other main body is the WHO-led COVAX facility. Some countries are also buying doses directly from manufacturers.
