Salim Abdool Karim: 'None of us are safe from Covid if one of us is not. We have mutual interdependence'

The face of South Africa ’s Covid science on why Africa has been hit less hard than Europe, the new variant in the region, and the danger of vaccine nationalismCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim could be considered South Africa ’sAnthony Fauci. As co-chair of the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, he is the government ’s top adviser on the pandemic and hasbecome the country ’s face of Covid-19 science. He also sits on the Africa Task Force for Novel Coronavirus, overseeing the continent ’s response to the global crisis.Karim, who directs the Durban-basedCentre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa and is a professor at Columbia University ’s Mailman School of Public Health, has long advocated for science and speaking truth to power. For three decades, along with his wife and scientific collaborator,Quarraisha Abdool Karim, he has been at the forefront of the fight against South Africa ’s substantial HIV and tuberculosis epidemics and in the early 2000s was one of the scientists who spoke out against the government’s Aids denialism.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Coronavirus South Africa Vaccines and immunisation Infectious diseases Medical research Science Aids and HIV Health Source Type: news