An African Official Called Out Countries Like Canada For Buying Vaccines 'In Excess'

Now that there are advancements with the COVID-19 vaccine, Canada and other countries are being called out for buying doses "in excess" of what their population needs.

Dr. John Nkengasong, a Cameroonian virologist and the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke about the state of vaccines in the world during a briefing on December 10.

He said that it would be "extremely terrible" to see the world watch African countries not get vaccines while others do and that it would create "a moral issue."

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Many western countries have bought vaccines in excess of their needs whereas in Africa we are still struggling to work with the COVAX facility. Dr. John Nkengasong

Dr. Nkengasong specifically mentioned western countries, a lot of which "have bought vaccines in excess of their needs."

That includes Canada, which has the most diverse portfolio in the world for vaccines.

He also said that Africa as a whole is struggling to work with the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility.

That facility is supposed to buy doses for low and middle-income countries.

However, Dr. Nkengasong noted that countries in Africa aren't going to get enough vaccines from COVAX.

A day before this, a report said Canada has more doses than people and explained how that kind of hoarding hurts other nations.