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- It is the inability of the rich world to distribute these effective vaccines in a sensible way globally that has made it possible for the virus to mutate, which happens quite naturally when the infection is allowed to ravage freely.
Vaccine coverage determines
The new virus mutation omikron has not yet been properly mapped, but according to Anna Mia Ekström, who is a member of the global vaccine collaboration Covax's expert council, vaccination coverage will be absolutely decisive for how hard it will affect people.
In Europe, which is currently driving the spread of infection, she believes the consequences will be mild.
On the African continent, it could get more serious.
With just over 27 percent, South Africa is the best in the African region, but on average only 7 percent of the population has received a dose of the vaccine.
Weak leadership
How hard the virus strikes depends on the proportion of the elderly who have been vaccinated.
Vaccine deficiency is the biggest problem.
But in the countries with the absolute worst vaccine coverage - Haiti in the Caribbean and Chad and Congo-Kinshasa in Central Africa - according to Ekström, it is also due to weak political leadership and weak health systems.
These are countries where Covax has not sent vaccines because the risk of it not being distributed correctly was considered too great.