President Hage Geingob at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

By: Andrew Kathindi

President Hage Geingob has once again called out what is termed ‘Vaccine Apartheid’, stating that the global roll out on vaccines has contributed to inequality.

“It is a pity that we have a situation where in some countries, citizens are at the stage of receiving booster shots while in other countries, many are still waiting to receive their first doses of vaccines.

Geingob made these remarks during his speech at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly delivered on Thursday morning in New York.

Africa remains one of the least COVID-19 vaccinated continents in the world, with 42 of Africa’s 54 nations—nearly 80%— set to miss the vaccination target should the current pace of vaccine deliveries and vaccinations hold, new data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows.

According to WHO, there have now been nearly 8.2 million COVID-19 cases recorded on the continent. The Delta variant has been found in 38 African countries.

“The Covid-19 has impacted poorer countries more acutely and unevenly. Faced with high levels of debt and no access to finance, developing countries are struggling to mitigate the severe effects of the crisis.”

Geingob on Wednesday stated that Namibia aims to vaccinate 70% of its population by 2022.

Thus far 251 174 Namibians have received the first jab of the vaccine, while 161 263 have gotten a second dose.

Geingob further stated that the economic hardships will push the government towards more innovative ways to stimulate the economy.

“Namibia however, aims to deploy innovative approaches to ensure sustainable economic development in this volatile period of the Covid-19 pandemic and Climate Change.”

“Given our renewable resources such as solar, wind as well as the ocean, Namibia has decided to prioritize the development of green and blue economies. Furthermore, we are also well positioned through our recent membership to the High-Level Panel on Ocean Sustainability, to design and champion a sustainable “blue economy”, which will grow our economic base and create the much-needed jobs, while also tackling climate change.”