On the day Coronavirus B.1.1.529 was announced, South Africa had more vaccine than it could use.
The critical issue there was not vaccine inequality, but widespread hesitancy fueled, in part, by evangelical churches, and social media.
EXCLUSIVE South Africa delays COVID vaccine deliveries as inoculations slow
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 24 (Reuters) - South Africa has asked Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Pfizer (PFE.N) to delay delivery of COVID-19 vaccines because it now has too much stock, health ministry officials said, as vaccine hesitancy slows an inoculation campaign.
... Nicholas Crisp, deputy director-general of the Health Department, told Reuters that South Africa had 16.8 million doses in stock and said deliveries had been deferred.
"We have 158 days' stock in the country at current use," a spokesman for the Health Ministry said. "We have deferred some deliveries."
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/exclusive-south-africa-delays-covid-vaccine-deliveries-inoculations-slow-2021-11-24/
Omicron variant hits South Africa, as country encounters vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy theories
...
[Pastor] Stephen Smith ... tells the factory workers and farm labourers at his services the pandemic was planned by powerful people.
... Not only has he actively discouraged people from being vaccinated, he has also discouraged several people with COVID-19 symptoms from being tested.
... He said his views — which were based on research he did "on the internet" — were also influenced by a distrust of the government.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-27/omicron-covid-variant-hits-south-africa/100646204
= new reply since forum marked as read
is enough to satisfy my level of liberal guilt. Biden has donated more vaccine doses overseas than the rest of the world combined.
Thanks for posting this. I just got chewed out at Thanksgiving by a triple dosed relative claiming I shouldn't have gotten the booster shot when there are impoverished Africans going without. 