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THE World Health Organisation (WHO), through COVAX facility and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), are expected to deliver close to 900 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa by 2021.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, stated this yesterday at WHO first online media briefing for 2021 from its regional office for Africa, based in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
The director said WHO Regional Office for Africa through COVAX facility would deliver 600 million doses and Africa CDC would secure 270 million doses of the vaccines.
COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and WHO. It aims at accelerating the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.
The regional director said: “The COVAX facility, which is coordinated by GAVI, WHO and CEPI, aims to provide around 600 million doses for Africa in 2021.
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“We expect the first doses to arrive by the end of March with large roll out by June.
“However, COVAX facility can only cover 20 per cent of Africa population. So, it is really wonderful to see the Africa Union efforts to secure provisional 270 million doses by the end of 2021 are achieving success.
“Together, we will deliver 900 million doses this year and we know still more is needed,” Moeti said.
He said the top priority for Africa was to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccine, saying “it is unfortunate that so far, vaccine distribution has been inequitable but this a massive undertaking that will take time.”
According to her, as COVID-19 cumulative cases in Africa top three million and daily case numbers exceed the first wave peak, the continent is now confronted with emerging variants of the virus.
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