Media have reported the Omicron variant originated in South Africa or even in “Africa”, and this was accompanied by a European travel ban from South Africa and several other African countries.

Some people have criticized the ban by pointing out the West hoarding vaccines caused this situation, but while this “vaccine apartheid” she mentions it is very real, this woman offers a simpler explanation: the travel ban and the media narrative placing South Africa as the site of the variant origin and subsequent spread are more manifestations of racism.

After all, the real reason South Africa is associated with this variant is because of the virus sequencing efforts that are still ingoing, probably unlike in most Western countries who made the vaccine their one and only anti-COVID strategy, often at the expense of global South countries.