COVID-19: AU keeps 270m vaccine doses for continent
Kehinde Bashir
The African Union (AU) has secured 270 million doses of anti-COVID vaccine for the continent in a deal to curtail the spread of the virus ravaging the world.
This was said at a special AU meeting by the South African President and AU Chair, Cyril Ramaphosa.
He said, “The vaccines will be supplied by Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and, Pfizer. This deal to curtail the virus will benefit countries unable to finance their own immunisation campaigns.
“From the beginning of the pandemic, our focus as a continent has been on collaboration and collective effort. We have also held firmly to the principle that no country should be left out”.
Ramaphosa, who created the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, gave details of the doses it had secured to the special meeting.
“One major reason the taskforce was set up is to ensure that the African continent would be able to secure sufficient doses to achieve community immunity”.
He further said, “due to our commitment of bringing a solution to the spread of the virus, we have so far secured a provisional amount of 270 million vaccines from three major suppliers: Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca (through Serum Institute of India) and Pfizer.
“This year, all 270 million vaccine doses will be made available, with 50 million supplied between April and June.
“Through the Covax facility which is an initiative aiming to deliver vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, led by the World Health Organization and the Vaccines Alliance, Gavi. The facility has secured an estimated 600 million doses for the continent”.
However, due the efforts of Covax facility, Mr. Ramaphosa, “volumes to be released between February and June may not extend beyond the needs of frontline healthcare workers and may not be enough to contain the ever-increasing toll of the pandemic in Africa.”
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