Monopolies on Covid vaccines are killing people in poorer countries

Emissaries from South Africa have been begging the WTO to endorse a vaccine waiver to spare more unnecessary suffering, reports Achal Prabhala and Chelsea Clinton

A woman opens her mouth for a heath worker to collect a sample for coronavirus testing at Lenasia South, south Johannesburg, South Africa. Fewer than 3% of the African continent has been vaccinated to date. Picture: AP

ON July 10, Abraham Sokhaya Nkomo died of Covid-19 in Pretoria, South Africa.

Abe Nkomo, as he was popularly known, was a giant of South African public life: A physician, an anti-apartheid organiser, a member of parliament, a diplomat, and a long-time public health activist.