Namibia, where the rejection of COVID-19 vaccines by a large part of the population forced the authorities to destroy doses that expired without being used, confirmed 18 cases of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, announced yesterday Monday the president of the country, Hage Gingob.
The new variant was identified last month by a team of scientists in neighboring South Africa.
“It’s unfortunate that we have had to destroy more than 150,000 vaccines that have expired because those who are entitled to them refuse to be vaccinated,” he told a news conference in the capital, Wenhok.
Only 12.1% of Namibia’s 2.4 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to date.
Last month, a Health Ministry spokesman predicted that nearly 270,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which would soon expire due to the immunity of the immunization program and the reluctance of the population, would undoubtedly be destroyed.
“In order not to throw vaccines, we encourage those who want to be vaccinated to do so,” said President Guingob, warning that tougher restraint measures would be needed unless a change in public behavior changed and an outbreak of the pandemic ensued.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
.
