{"id":50829,"date":"2021-08-13T11:37:33","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T10:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=50829"},"modified":"2021-09-02T21:09:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T20:09:38","slug":"the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/","title":{"rendered":"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vaccination is an <\/span>essential tool<\/span><\/a> to stop the spread of infectious diseases. Yet, as the <\/span>Delta variant<\/span><\/a> of SARS-COV-2 spreads across the world, Africa, with a covid-19 vaccination rate of <\/span>less than 2%<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> faces a high risk of surges in infection and deaths. Various initiatives such as <\/span>COVAX<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team<\/span><\/a> (AVATT) negotiate with pharmaceutical companies and high-income countries (HICs) to secure covid-19 vaccines for Africa, but the world can\u2019t avail itself of enough doses to rapidly respond to the demand. This presents a threat to Africa\u2019s development as the reorientation of resources to fight the pandemic is having a <\/span>negative impact<\/span><\/a> on economies, as well as the provision of education and health services. This is why many African countries are fighting to start manufacturing the much needed covid-19 vaccines in order to avoid being the last to be served as always.<\/span><\/p>\n

The response of many African countries early in the pandemic was <\/span>hailed<\/span><\/a> for its focus on strict implementation of prevention measures backed by science under<\/span> the leadership of Africa Centres for Disease C<\/span><\/a>ontrol and Prevention<\/span>. This contributed to a <\/span>low<\/span><\/a> rate of covid-19 infections and mortality. However, the implementation of public health measures can only hold off a major catastrophe and ensure recovery for so long. <\/span>Vaccines are critical<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> especially with the emergence of more infectious and deadlier <\/span>variants<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Public health measures have largely relied on the ability of governments to implement them, with external support for testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) as Africa <\/span>did not produce enough of these tools<\/span><\/a>. However, the continent has to look outwards to secure covid-19 vaccines. The continent currently accounts for <\/span>25% of the global demand<\/span><\/a> for all types of vaccines, but only produces <\/span>1% of the vaccines <\/span><\/a>consumed<\/span>. This makes Africa\u2019s health security heavily reliant on the availability of surplus vaccines beyond the needs of HICs, and the willingness of pharmaceutical companies and their governments to extend an arm and supply Africa with these vaccines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The story of how Africa got here is not news to many. Centuries of slavery, followed by colonialism, have enriched Europe while depriving Africa of its wealth and the capacity to build the necessary health and industrial systems to innovate medical interventions. Colonial powers created <\/span>extractive, resource-based economies<\/span><\/a> rather than building health, education, and other systems needed for Africa\u2019s sustainable development.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1960s, <\/span>newly independent<\/span><\/a> African countries that were economically deprived and lacked qualified human resources, looked to the colonizers of yesterday for support. Under the fa\u00e7ade of helping Africa, the new partnerships and multilateral organizations left little room for system building. Instead, Europe further entrenched colonial-time power dynamics and continued to divert African wealth from the continent, resulting in shockingly very little reduction in poverty, despite the abundance of natural resources on the continent. A few decades later, <\/span>structural adjustment programmes<\/span><\/a> (SAPs) from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) required disinvestment in public programmes focused on building systems for human development, favoring tax-based private investments. History proved them wrong, as countries with the <\/span>best public health systems<\/span><\/a> are among those with the <\/span>best population health outcomes<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> Note that better health outcomes also contribute to higher levels of <\/span>economic growth<\/span><\/a>. Despite this proof, HICs and these international organizations expressed no regrets. No one was held accountable for HICs\u2019 misconduct and no reparations were provided to compensate for their wrong advice. On the contrary, HICs still essentially blame African countries for the current situation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colonialism and its legacy continue to handicap Africa, leaving it to provide rudimentary health services needed to keep populations alive instead of developing new interventions. <\/span>Brain drain<\/span><\/a>, which<\/span> is estimated to result in a loss of <\/span>$2billion annually<\/span><\/a>, contributes substantially to the continent\u2019s poverty. Furthermore, despite the common narrative of large aid flows into Africa, the extraction of resources from Africa continues, with an estimated net value of <\/span>$41.3billion<\/span><\/a> flowing out of Africa to rich countries in 2017. This further leads to <\/span>inadequate<\/span><\/a> investment in research and the <\/span>limited number of vaccine manufacturers<\/span><\/a> that currently prevent Africa from meeting the demand for vaccines on the continent. Today the continent has built a strong <\/span>momentum for vaccine manufacturing<\/span><\/a> in the context of covid-19, but for it to succeed, each step of the process requires leaders to fight the colonial legacies that undermine the real narrative and undercut Africa\u2019s progress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The world needs to understand that if Africa reaches out to HICs for the resources needed to bolster vaccine manufacturing, it is because the disastrous impacts of centuries of enslavement, colonialism, and its continued legacy force Africa to look outwards. Supporting this request is not a question of compassion or beneficence, but rather one of overdue reparations to payback for centuries of injustice that diverted wealth from Africa. By doing so, Africa will be more autonomous in its efforts to protect the health of its population, while pharmaceutical firms in HICs will continue to make high profits through licensing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Agnes Binagwaho<\/strong>,\u00a0vice chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. She previously worked as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda\u2019s National AIDS Control Commission, as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and as the Minister of Health.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kedest<\/span>\u00a0Mathewos<\/strong>,\u00a0research associate at University of Global Health Equity<\/em><\/p>\n

Competing interests<\/strong>: None declared.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vaccination is an essential tool to stop the spread of infectious diseases. Yet, as the Delta variant of SARS-COV-2 spreads across the world, Africa, with a covid-19 vaccination rate of […]<\/p>\n

More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":50831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-health"],"yoast_head":"\nThe legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vaccination is an essential tool to stop the spread of infectious diseases. Yet, as the Delta variant of SARS-COV-2 spreads across the world, Africa, with a covid-19 vaccination rate of [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-13T10:37:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-02T20:09:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/08\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"julietwalker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"julietwalker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"julietwalker\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/373707d32533c2cbca204980b8cd3493\"},\"headline\":\"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-13T10:37:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-02T20:09:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":892,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Global health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/\",\"name\":\"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context - The BMJ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-13T10:37:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-02T20:09:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg\",\"width\":540,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"2FNG68R A nurse talks to a woman following her vaccination, as South Africa rolls out the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the elderly at the Munsieville Care for the Aged Centre outside Johannesburg, South Africa May 17, 2021. REUTERS\\\/Siphiwe Sibeko\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/13\\\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"description\":\"Helping doctors make better decisions.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"width\":852,\"height\":568,\"caption\":\"The BMJ\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bmjdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/bmj_latest\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/373707d32533c2cbca204980b8cd3493\",\"name\":\"julietwalker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34f10b717c81464cc7a2879c84cd30078f63b5a901e12905a02abd9d1ea9ec90?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34f10b717c81464cc7a2879c84cd30078f63b5a901e12905a02abd9d1ea9ec90?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34f10b717c81464cc7a2879c84cd30078f63b5a901e12905a02abd9d1ea9ec90?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"julietwalker\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/author\\\/julietwalker\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context - The BMJ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context - The BMJ","og_description":"Vaccination is an essential tool to stop the spread of infectious diseases. Yet, as the Delta variant of SARS-COV-2 spreads across the world, Africa, with a covid-19 vaccination rate of [...]More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/","og_site_name":"The BMJ","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","article_published_time":"2021-08-13T10:37:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-02T20:09:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":540,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/08\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"julietwalker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bmj_latest","twitter_site":"@bmj_latest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"julietwalker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/"},"author":{"name":"julietwalker","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/373707d32533c2cbca204980b8cd3493"},"headline":"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context","datePublished":"2021-08-13T10:37:33+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-02T20:09:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/"},"wordCount":892,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/08\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg","articleSection":["Global health"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/","name":"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context - The BMJ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/08\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg","datePublished":"2021-08-13T10:37:33+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-02T20:09:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/08\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/08\/africa_covid_vaccines.jpg","width":540,"height":350,"caption":"2FNG68R A nurse talks to a woman following her vaccination, as South Africa rolls out the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the elderly at the Munsieville Care for the Aged Centre outside Johannesburg, South Africa May 17, 2021. REUTERS\/Siphiwe Sibeko"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/08\/13\/the-legacies-of-colonialism-putting-african-covid-19-vaccination-into-context\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The legacies of colonialism: putting African covid-19 vaccination into context"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","name":"The BMJ","description":"Helping doctors make better decisions.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization","name":"The BMJ","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","width":852,"height":568,"caption":"The BMJ"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/bmj_latest"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/373707d32533c2cbca204980b8cd3493","name":"julietwalker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34f10b717c81464cc7a2879c84cd30078f63b5a901e12905a02abd9d1ea9ec90?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34f10b717c81464cc7a2879c84cd30078f63b5a901e12905a02abd9d1ea9ec90?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34f10b717c81464cc7a2879c84cd30078f63b5a901e12905a02abd9d1ea9ec90?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"julietwalker"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/author\/julietwalker\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}