The African Union has announced the start of a monthly shipments of vaccines acquired by the AU/African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to the AU Member States today.

By pooling their purchasing power, the AU Member States’ initiative, the AVAT, signed the agreement for the purchase of 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. Not only that, the agreement has the potential to make available an additional 180 million doses.

Accordingly, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was selected for this first pooled procurement for three reasons: firstly, as a single-shot vaccine, it is easier and cheaper to administer; second, the vaccine has a long shelf-life and favourable storage conditions. Last but not least, the vaccine is partly manufactured on the African continent, with fill-finish activities taking place in South Africa.

Announcing the historic agreement, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa remarked:

“This is a momentous step forward in Africa’s efforts to safeguard the health and well-being of its people. By working together and by pooling resources, African countries have been able to secure millions of vaccine doses produced right here in Africa. This will provide impetus to the fight against COVID-19 across the continent and will lay the basis for Africa’s social and economic recovery.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa

Based on the timelines for the delivery of the vaccine, the first monthly shipments are to arrive today, August, 5, 2021 in several Members States, and will continue for a total of 6.4 million doses shipped in August 2021. Furthermore, monthly shipments will continue and be continually ramped up, with a target of delivering almost 50 million vaccines before the end of December 2021.

Progress of vaccine deployment

Moreover, by January 2022, the number of vaccines being released will be in excess of 25 million per month. In collaboration with the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), UNICEF is providing logistical and delivery services to the Member States.

The vaccine acquisition is unique for the Africa continent. This is the first time Africa has undertaken a procurement of this magnitude involving all Member States. Again, it marks the first time that AU Member States have collectively purchased vaccines to safeguard the health of the African population.

Statistically, 400 million vaccines are sufficient to immunize one-third of people in Africa and at least bring Africa closer to the continental goal of vaccinating more than 60 per cent of the population. Meanwhile, International donors have committed to deliver the remaining half of the doses required through the COVAX initiative.

It is worthy to note that the vaccine doses are being produced on the Aspen Pharmacare facility in Gqeberha in South Africa. This has been realized due to the concerted efforts of African countries to rally the world to support the TRIPS waiver for technology transfer.

Mr Strive Masiyiwa, African Union Special Envoy indicated:

“Delivering our first doses to African Union Member States is an unprecedented milestone. We are deploying relentless efforts to help each Member State to reach its goal of immunising 60 per cent of Africans, as recommended by the Africa CDC. Johnson & Johnson AVAT-purchased single-shot vaccines will enable us to considerably improve our vaccination level across the continent.”

This vaccine acquisition and deployment is supported by an innovative partnership between the World Bank and the AU, African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team to expedite access to vaccines throughout the continent.

Through this partnership, the World Bank is supporting the AVAT initiative with resources to allow countries to purchase and deploy vaccines for up to 400 million people across Africa.