Editor's note: Hamzah Rifaat Hussain is a former visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and serves as assistant researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute in Pakistan. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on August 4 urged countries seeking booster shots while dealing with the Delta COVID-19 variant on their shores to impose a moratorium till late September this year to ensure that populations in lesser developed countries are 10 percent inoculated, which would otherwise be an affront to promoting vaccine equity.

It was noted by the agency's chief that countries that have used up global vaccine supplies have disproportionately affected continents such as Africa and hence restraint must be exercised for an improvement in accessibility.

Given the severity of the Delta variant, it was expected that this time around, calls for vaccine equity would not involve political gambits with the sole focus being on the betterment of the deprived population. 

However, in response to distressing revelations of just over 1.8 percent of the African population being fully vaccinated as compared to nearly 50 percent in the European Union (EU) and the United States, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki rejected global equity calls and equated it as a "false choice."

The reasoning provided is that the United States has already donated more than 110 million doses globally and is carrying out a two-pronged approach with donations being complemented with domestic inoculations of the American population.

How such a strategy addresses the issue of vaccine inequity in Africa is beyond comprehension, with no definitive answer from Washington, D.C.

The question is, do such remarks or strategies address harrowing figures of the percentage of the African population being vaccinated as compared to the EU or the United States in 2021 or can such remarks be construed as gross neglect of an entire continent?

Few can dispute the fact that Africa confronts pressing issues such as income divides, affordability and accessibility problems and is also at the receiving end of dwindling global vaccine supply chains from affluent countries.

While important, vaccinating the American domestic populace does not address the central issue that previous deliberations at the World Trade Organization have focused on, including the subject of intellectual property rights on vaccines in an attempt to bolster supplies, which was brought up by BRICS member states India and South Africa.

Hence, it would be worthwhile for Washington to shift its focus away from demonizing countries such as China, toward addressing the real issue of global vaccine inequity, which is having a severe impact on the continent.

In contrast, few can deny that unconditional vaccine access from Beijing has been well received and appreciated with Guinea's ambassador to China, Saramady Toure, in late July lauding the provision of medical supplies and efforts aimed at ensuring that vaccines become an affordable public good and without falling victim to hyper corporatization.

Further note that this is taking place in the absence of China competing for influence on the continent, which is a fallacy that Western hyper-nationalist rhetoric and hyperbole erroneously presents it as.

Beyond the continent and based on figures alone, the volume of vaccine exports from China to the continent is an astonishingly 227 percent higher than EU provisions and close to 85 percent more than that of the United States. Furthermore, out of 54 countries on the continent, over 50 percent of them, including the least developed countries such as Togo, have received vaccine aid from China since February this year.

Hence, Africa's predicament is due to neglect from more affluent nations which have had a monopoly on stocks and compromised unconditional access to civilians who are yet to receive their first shots, let alone benefit from boosters.

Despite China's concerted efforts, which have been lauded for their precision and grassroots level operationalization, the continent still needs 700 million doses to inoculate its population with the presence of the Delta variant adding a new dimension to the pernicious effects of the virus.

To flatly claim that the American strategy of donating vaccines while inoculating the domestic populace within is enough to alleviate the suffering of the African population lacks credibility where the underlying causes of the divides are left unaddressed.

The focus should ideally be on vaccine coverage and how to make such coverage more dynamic, indigenous and localized in societies which are defined by unique dynamics, the absence of which would also result in social breakdowns.

That seemingly is not on the priority list.

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