The African continent needs to vaccinate more than half of its total population, or 70% of the inhabitants, against covid-19, otherwise this disease could become as endemic in Africa as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

The warning comes from the Director of the African Union Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), John Nkengasong, who was speaking today at a press conference held at the CDC headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The official said that the continent may get to that situation due to slowness in the vaccination process, and "I hope we don't get there, but we are heading in that direction."

Nkengasong admitted that there will be other variants after omicron as the virus continues to circulate. "and what we have to do is make sure we implement public health measures," already widely publicized, "and then vaccinate quickly and at scale."

The year 2022, he continued, will be marked by three major goals, which are the expansion of testing, the spread of vaccination, and increased access to treatment.

"We may be tired, but we can't let our guard down...because the virus won't get tired," he concluded.