PTI. Further, the scientist, Amita Gupta, who is the chief of the division of infectious disease at John Hopkins, lamented vaccine inequity and said that no one is safe from Covid until everyone in the world gets vaccinated. “Global vaccine inequity remains an issue both within India and globally.
For example, in the continent of Africa, less than 20% of the population is currently vaccinated and there are countries in Africa still with less than 2% vaccinated," said Gupta.
Stressing the need to improve this number, she cited the example of the Omicron variant, which emerged in November last year in South Africa and Botswana due to inadequate immunisation. “It is not enough to fully vaccinate only a few countries.
Health workers and highest-risk populations in all countries must be fully vaccinated to stop the pandemic," she said. The public health expert said it is hard to predict whether further mutations in SARS-CoV-2 will increase or decrease the intrinsic virulence of the virus or the severity caused by it. “What we do know is that no one is safe from Covid-19 until everyone in the world is safe.