In the midst of a new outbreak of Covid-19 infections, African experts decried what they called "vaccine apartheid" by rich nations to the continent's disadvantage on Tuesday.

Apartheid was the name given by South Africa's white minority to the country's racial segregation development system until internal and international pressure forced the release of anti-racist leader Nelson Mandela after 26 years in prison, and elections were held, with a black-majority government emerging.

According to Dr. Ahmed Kalebi, consulting pathologist and founder of Lancet Kenya, just around 3% of Africa's 1.3 billion people are properly vaccinated against the pandemic.

The protest follows criticism from Matshidiso Moeti, the Globe Health Organization's Regional Director for Africa, who accused Western countries of stockpiling vaccines rather than distributing them equally with the rest of the world a few days ago.

According to the Centers for Sickness Control and Prevention, 248,000 new contagions were recorded in Africa last week, with 28 states experiencing an upsurge in cases as a result of the influx of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the deadly disease.