Molefe Seeletsa The minister says there s no update on the Bushiris extradition from Malawi and also slams a report linking her to their escape from South Africa. International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Naledi Pandor. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency
Pandor previously dismissed claims that self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary were smuggled out of the country through a collaboration between Malawi and South African officials, in an article published by Sunday Independent.
Earlier this month, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, revealed that the South African government had submitted an extradition request for the couple, under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol.
As many countries around the world are making important decisions about who gets vaccinated against Covid-19, Africa is increasingly on a razor edge as access to the vaccine is not guaranteed.
The challenge facing Africa is access: availability of the required vaccine doses and access to financing to make purchases.
Specifically, Africa is scaling walls in the ongoing global race to access the vaccine as rich countries, representing just 13 percent of the world’s population, have already cornered more than half (51 percent) of the promised doses of leading Covid-19 vaccine candidates, according to Oxfam International.
Oxfam analysed the deals that pharmaceutical corporations and vaccine producers have already struck with nations for the five leading vaccine candidates currently in phase 3 clinical trials, based on data collected by Airfinity, the data and science analytics company.
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Covid-19 ‘vaccine nationalism’ a real threat, warns Pandor Updated
Sinethemba Madolo
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International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor says government is closely monitories the hoarding of Covid-19 vaccines by rich countries.
Image Courtesy: GCIS
Pandor said there are fears that the richer countries may hoard vaccine stocks and use intellectual property rights to block access of vaccines to developing countries.
Statistics show that rich nations have bought up 53% of the most promising vaccines so far, even though they only represent around 14% of the world s population.
Despite progress made in co-operation and many countries experiencing a second wave, global attention is now shifting to access to vaccine and approval for use,” said Pandor.
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