The African Union (AU) Chair, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the bloc has secured a provisional 270 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from manufacturers for member states to supplement the COVAX programme.
“From the onset of this pandemic, our focus as a continent has been on collaboration and collective effort. We have held steadfastly to the principle that no country should be left behind,” the South African President who doubles as AU Chair said.
An African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) news release added that the vaccines will be from Pfizer, AstraZeneca (through Serum Institute of India) and Johnson & Johnson.
These vaccines have been secured alongside a vaccine program from COVAX, a World Health Organization and Gavi Vaccine Alliance initiative that aims to provide worldwide access to effective Covid-19 vaccines.
President Ramaphosa said that while the initiative was “vital” it may “not extend beyond the needs of frontline health care workers, and may thus not be enough to contain the ever-increasing toll of the pandemic in Africa.”
He however noted that all 270 million doses would be made available this year, with at least 50 million available “for the crucial period of April to June 2021”.
On financing, the South African President intimated that arrangements had been made with the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) to support member states who want access to the vaccines.
He posited that Afreximbank would, upon receipt of firm orders from member states, provide advance procurement commitment guarantees of up to $2 billion to the manufacturers
“There is also close collaboration between the AU team and the World Bank to ensure that member states are able to access about $5 billion either to buy more vaccines or pay for delivery of vaccines committed on their behalf by Afreximbank.
“These endeavours aim to supplement the COVAX efforts, and to ensure that as many dosages of vaccine as possible become available throughout Africa as soon as possible.”
The COVAX facility aims to make available 2 billion doses of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.
The news comes as scientists at the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) indicated that the vaccine needs to reach at least 60% of the continent’s population to significantly slow the spread of the disease.
The Africa CDC estimates that some 1.5 billion doses are needed for that, assuming two doses per person also warning that the virus could become endemic in parts of the African continent if too much time is taken.
Africa has so far been officially relatively spared by the pandemic as the continent has recorded just over 3 million cases with about74,000 deaths, according to official data.
Nevertheless, several nations on the continent are facing a second wave of the epidemic. South Africa accounts for the majority of Africa’s cases with more than 1.2 million cases and 35,000 deaths.
The AU has said it is on a mission to obtain vaccines, and is holding discussions with other manufacturers to obtain even more as adding that “there is still a long way to go” to defeat the virus.
