{"id":60731,"date":"2021-01-21T22:30:11","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T20:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/africa-needs-timely-access-to-safe-and-effective-covid-19-vaccines\/"},"modified":"2021-01-21T22:30:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T20:30:12","slug":"africa-needs-timely-access-to-safe-and-effective-covid-19-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/africa-needs-timely-access-to-safe-and-effective-covid-19-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa needs timely access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While the development and approval of safe and effective vaccines less than a year after the emergence of COVID-19 is a stunning achievement, Africa is in danger of being left behind as countries in other regions strike bilateral deals, driving up prices.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As of early this week 40 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in 50 mostly high-income countries. However, in Africa, Guinea is the sole low-income nation to provide vaccines and to date these have only been administered to 25 people. Seychelles, which is a high-income country, is the only one on the continent to start a national vaccination campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe first, not me first, is the only way to end the pandemic. Vaccine\u00a0hoarding will only prolong the ordeal and delay Africa’s recovery.\u00a0It is deeply unjust that the most vulnerable Africans are forced to wait for vaccines while lower-risk groups in rich\u00a0countries are made safe,\u201d said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. \u201cHealth workers and vulnerable people in Africa need urgent access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The COVAX Facility \u2013 which is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and WHO \u2013 has secured 2 billion doses of vaccine from five producers, with options for over 1 billion more doses.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVAX is on track to start delivering vaccine doses and begin ensuring global access to vaccines, said Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director, Country Programmes, GAVI.\u201d This massive international undertaking has been made possible thanks to donations, work towards dose-sharing deals and deals with manufacturers that have brought us to almost 2 billion doses secured. We look forward to rollout in the coming weeks.”<\/p>\n

In Africa, the coalition has committed to vaccinating at least 20% of the population by the end of 2021 by providing a maximum of 600 million doses based on two doses per individual disbursed in phases. An initial 30 million doses are expected to start arriving in countries by March with the aim of covering 3% of the general population, prioritizing mainly healthcare workers and other priority groups and then expanding to cover additional vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. Most of the doses are expected to arrive in the second half of the year. These timelines and quantities could change if candidate vaccines fail to meet regulatory approval or production, delivery and funding face challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To make sure that vaccines are transported and stored adequately to remain effective, WHO, Gavi, UNICEF and other partners are working with countries to support their readiness to receive vaccines by mapping existing cold chain equipment and storage capacity as well as providing technical support for countries to be ready to receive and manage the vaccines.<\/p>\n

According to the WHO vaccine introduction readiness assessment tool,\u00a0African nations are on average 42% ready for their mass-vaccination campaigns, which is an improvement on the starting point of 33% two months ago.\u00a0However, there is still a long way to go to reach the desired benchmark of 80%.<\/p>\n

As the largest vaccine buyer in the world, procuring more than 2 billion doses annually for routine immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries, UNICEF is coordinating and supporting the procurement, international freight and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines for the COVAX Facility. This is the biggest, most sophisticated ground operation in the history of immunization.\u00a0UNICEF is stockpiling one billion syringes and buying 10 million safety boxes so that\u202fused syringes and needles can be disposed\u202fin a safe manner by personnel at health facilities, thus preventing the risk of injuries and blood borne diseases.<\/p>\n

\u201cUNICEF has put in place a global network of freight forwarders and logistics providers to deliver vaccines as quickly and safely as possible as part of this historic and mammoth operation,\u201d said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Director. \u201cThis invaluable collaboration will ensure that we have enough transport capacity in place for delivering COVID-19 vaccine doses, syringes and safety boxes to the front-line workers who ultimately protect the millions of children who depend on their vital services.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the 54 countries on the continent have expressed interest in the COVAX Facility.\u00a0 Eight higher and middle-income countries will self-finance their own participation, while lower-middle income and low-income countries will access the vaccines at no cost through the Facility. The vaccines distributed by COVAX will have received WHO Emergency Use Listing authorization and as such will have undergone stringent validation of their safety and effectiveness. However, vaccine nationalism is threatening the COVAX initiative.<\/p>\n

The COVAX initiative has raised US $6 billion in pledges but needs an additional US $2.8 billion in 2021 and WHO and partners are urging countries and donors to contribute and help end the pandemic globally.<\/p>\n

Dr Moeti spoke during a virtual press conference today facilitated by APO Group. She was joined by Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director, Country Programmes, GAVI, and Mohamed Fall, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Director.<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group<\/a> on behalf of WHO Regional Office for Africa.<\/i>
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South Africa Today Africa \u2013 Central Africa Congo<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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