Africa alerted the world to Omicron. Why are we now the pariahs? By Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija

By Dilip -

The advent of the Omicron variant has given us a glimpse of an alternative future in which, had the Sars-CoV-2 virus been initially identified in Africa in early 2020, the world would have maybe locked Africa away. There would have been no emergency funding for vaccine development, limited global attention, and Africa would have become known as the continent of Covid.

We may never know the origins of Omicron, but there is now evidence that this variant was circulating in the Netherlands before it was officially identified in South Africa. African scientists’ superior level of pandemic preparedness is what has enabled the world to quickly respond to this new threat. However, the response has entailed the imposition of travel bans – shutting out southern African countries, as well as Nigeria and Egypt, who have now had to pay a heavy price in trade and tourism for identifying this variant in such an expeditious manner…

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/03/africa-omicron-rich-nations-pandemic-science


Gordon Brown: A new Covid variant is no surprise when rich countries are hoarding vaccines


George Lakey on Capitalism, public health and the Nordic model


Tom Engelhardt : A vote for the apocalypse // Robert Roy Britt: Anti-Science Attitudes are Killing Americans


Patrick Cockburn: Trump, Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro – populist nationalists have met their match in the coronavirus


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