No one can say that there has been a lack of warnings, says Secretary General Dagfinn Høybråten of Norwegian Church Aid about the new virus variant from southern Africa.
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The new virus variant, which has at least 30 mutations in the spike protein, has led to the European Commission proposing a halt to air traffic from countries in southern Africa. The United Kingdom, Italy and Germany have already introduced this.
Høybråten in Norwegian Church Aid believes that what has happened is that the rich countries have been incredibly slow to share vaccines and finance vaccines for low-income countries. Thus, new virus variants can more easily develop
– The conclusion today is that 5 percent of the population in the low-income countries has been vaccinated, at the same time as more than 7 billion doses have been set, ie more than there are people on earth, he says.
– No one should be surprised by what is happening now. It is a announced development, he continues.
However, it is not too late to do anything, Høybråten believes. It is still possible to speed up the distribution of doses to poor countries. You can allocate money, route doses you do not need to these countries and you can give them a previous queue at the vaccine manufacturers.
– This week there is also a very important meeting in the World Trade Organization (WTO), where temporary exceptions from the patent rules will be discussed, he says, and asks Norway to speed up the process.
He calls the situation for the low-income countries triple injustice: First, the rich countries have greedily supplied themselves with vaccine production, then they have promised vaccine doses, but have been slow to fulfill their promises and when the virus returns, they close the borders.
– It is really a moral collapse, he says.
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