The Omicron variant reveals the true global danger of ‘vaccine apartheid’

The Omicron variant reveals the true global danger of ‘vaccine apartheid’

Mandatory face masks are back in England. The fear factor has returned. After months of assuming the Covid-19 pandemic was all but over, the UK government has imposed new restrictions in an attempt to curb the spread of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Financial markets didn’t wait for the announcement from Downing Street. It is far too early to know how big a threat the new strain poses but investors assumed the worst as soon as the reports arrived from southern Africa. Share prices fell heavily, with airline stocks the hardest hit as travel bans were re-introduced.

Toughening up restrictions in the west in response to Omicron is a classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, because for months the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been warning rich developed countries that an end to the pandemic requires poor people as well as rich to be vaccinated.