As of this week, global confirmed cases of Covid-19 have surpassed 251.4 million, with deaths reaching just over five million.
According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) weekly report, deaths rose by 10% in Europe – making it the only region in which both infections and deaths are increasing.
Syringe shortage expected for 2022 – WHO
The WHO has predicted a shortage of medical syringes in 2022 as a result of Covid-19 vaccines and mass vaccination drives across the world.
“A shortage of syringes is unfortunately a real possibility…[with] the global manufacturing capacity of around six billion a year for immunisation syringes, it’s pretty clear that a deficit in 2022 of over a billion could happen if we continue with business as usual,” said WHO senior adviser Lisa Hedman.
About 6.8 billion Covid-19 vaccinations have been administered globally, almost double the number of routine vaccines, Hedman said, compared with a total manufacturing capacity of about six billion immunisation syringes a year.
According to WHO Africa, some countries, including Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa, have experienced delays in receiving syringes.
Ramping up manufacturing efforts and other solutions have been proposed, but these will take serious time and investment.
Diabetes and Covid-19
With World Diabetes Day taking place tomorrow (November 14), a recent WHO analysis evaluated data from 13 countries in Africa on underlying conditions or comorbidities in people who tested positive for Covid-19.
The study revealed a 10.2% case fatality rate in patients with diabetes, compared with 2.5% for Covid-19 patients overall.
“Covid-19 is delivering a clear message: Fighting the diabetes epidemic in Africa is in many ways as critical as the battle against the current pandemic,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.
“The Covid-19 pandemic will eventually subside, but Africa is projected in the coming years to experience the highest increase in diabetes globally. We must act now to prevent new cases, vaccinate people who have this condition and, equally importantly, identify and support the millions of Africans unaware they are suffering from this silent killer.”
New figures released by the International Diabetes Federation show that over four million adults in South Africa are affected by diabetes – which is the highest in Africa.
According to Diabetes SA, those with diabetes are not more likely to contract Covid-19, but are rather at a higher risk of severe side effects because of their compromised immune systems.
Data from 37 countries indicates that since March 2021, over 6.5 million #COVID19 vaccine doses have gone to Africans with comorbidities such as #diabetes – 14% of all doses administered so far.
There is still a lot more work to be done to get people at high risk vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/zLJaFscaxQ
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) November 11, 2021
Misinformation and vaccine hesitancy
People who spread misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines are ‘criminals’, says the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla.
“Those people are criminals,” he told Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe. “They’re not bad people. They’re criminals because they have literally cost millions of lives.”
This comes as millions of people across the world – including South Africa – are hesitant about getting vaccinated against Covid-19. Experts attribute this mainly to misinformation.
While South Africa has sufficient stock to inoculate citizens, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said government was struggling to reach unvaccinated people.
However, the minister believes that in the next few days, 40% of the country’s adult population would have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
“Many of our colleagues in the SADC region are still struggling to access vaccines for their people. However, we are struggling to get the people to come to the vaccine. It’s embarrassing.”
Vooma Vaccination Weekend
Meanwhile, in South Africa, the Department of Health’s second Vooma Vaccination Weekend is underway.
South Africans who are not yet vaccinated – or who are due their second Pfizer dose – are called upon to join the Vooma Vaccination Weekend at their local vaccination sites in a bid to ‘save our summer’. Click here to see all provincial public vaccination sites open this weekend.
Vaccination sites were all open yesterday and continue to operate today. Selected sites will be open tomorrow (Sunday). See www.sacoronavirus.co.za for more details.
For enquiries, contact the Covid-19 hotline on 0800 029 999 or email info@vaccinesupport.org.za in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Sotho or Xhosa. Vooma vaccination voucher enquiries for over 60s: Shoprite helpline on 0800 010 709.
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Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As yoau may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
