Western nations have yet to  provide the African  continent with a single vaccine  dose to combat the monkeypox virus,  according to African health officials (Credit: Wikipedia) 

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS –  NEW  YORK  –  While a vaccine is readily available in the West to combat the monkeypox virus, the African continent has yet to receive even a single dose.  And as the monkeypox virus is subsiding in the West, Africa is left vulnerable to the disease.  In July, the U.N. health agency designated monkeypox as a global emergency and appealed to the world to support African countries so that the “catastrophic vaccine inequity that plagued the outbreak of COVID-19”  wouldn’t be repeated, CBS reported.   “Africa is still not benefiting from either monkeypox vaccines or the antiviral treatments,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa director, adding that only small amounts have been available for research purposes.

UN Secretary General Concerned About Vaccine Inequality

(Photo by Gary Raynaldo /©Diplomatic Times) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, briefs reporters at UN world headquarters in New York Sept. 15, 2022)

The Secretary General of the UN António Guterres is concerned about the lack of a vaccine in Africa to combat the Monkeypox disease while Europe and North America have easy access to it. Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General said the UN boss is concerned about the vaccine inequality when asked by Diplomatic Times at a press briefing Thursday at UN world headquarters in New York.

“I think the issue of inequality, whether it comes to vaccines for COVID, whether it comes to vaccines for monkeypox, whether… the way countries have been able to address the economic fallout of COVID, access to funds, debt relief, all… it’s inequality across the board.  And I think coming… in a relatively short time after the COVID pandemic and the inequalities we see with the COVID vaccine, it is extremely concerning to see a similar trend developing with another disease like monkeypox.

-Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General