South Africa’s presidency has few options for acquiring Covid-19 vaccines, as the outbreak of the disease is worsening in many parts of the continent.
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE has offered to supply 50 million Covid-19 vaccines to health workers to Africa between March and the end of this year, the presidency said in a reply to Bloomberg on Sunday. Moderna Inc. has no supplies for Africa, while AstraZeneca Plc has no shots fired for the continent in 2021 and has instructed the African Union to Serum Institute of India Ltd., which makes the vaccine on behalf of AstraZeneca. South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is the chairman of the African Union.
Ramaphosa’s response comes after days of critical criticism in South Africa over the country’s vaccination strategy of health leaders, trade unions and opposition parties. Although four vaccination trials are underway in the country, South Africa has only managed to buy enough shots for 10% of its population of 60 million people through the Covax initiative, which is designed to provide equitable access to the vaccines. ensure. This is likely to start in the second quarter. Some African countries have their own plans for obtaining vaccines. Most do not.
“We are working hard in South Africa and on the continent to protect our people from Covid-19,” the presidency said.
South Africa is posting record numbers of infections and deaths, and neighboring Zimbabwe is undergoing a strict 30-day closure. The South African economy has probably contracted the most in nine decades last year, according to official estimates.
In an email, a representative of AstraZeneca said that the company “has created a number of supply chains around the world to supply the vaccine broadly and equitably.” The statement cites Covax and the Serum Institute of India as the main channels through which African countries have access to vaccines.
‘Prohibition’ costs
The cost of Pfizer’s vaccines is ‘unaffordable’, the president said. A Pfizer representative confirmed talks with the African Union and did not want to give further details.
In a subsequent statement, a representative of Pfizer, based in the United Kingdom, said the company “remains determined to provide equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.”
“We have allocated doses for the provision of low- and lower-middle-income countries at a non-profit price and we are actively working with governments around the world,” the email said. statement said.
Bookings take place with Johnson & Johnson, which is conducting a trial in South Africa and plans to make 300 million doses a year in a factory in the country owned by Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. when the shot is approved.
J&J “has not made it clear whether Africa will benefit from vaccines manufactured in South Africa,” the presidency said. “We still have to negotiate the price that is affordable for Africa.”
South Africa is in direct talks with vaccine suppliers, including J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer, about the stock for the country, the presidency said. The regulator of health products in South Africa uses a so-called rolling review, which enables it to assess the vaccine data as it becomes available during the trials to assess the uptake of J&J. It will do the same with AstraZeneca and Pfizer when they apply.
Richer Nations
African countries would have been in a better position to gain early access to AstraZeneca and other vaccines if they had been ‘as strategic’ as prosperous countries and started talking directly to producers, and in parallel with early attempts to gain access to Covax, Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccinologist and head of the South African arm of the AstraZeneca trial, told Bloomberg.
“The Covax facility, while “Noble in its social solidarity mission for equitable access to vaccines, it would probably not break the legacy of the delay it takes before life-saving vaccines become available to low- and middle-income countries,” Madhi said.
While at least 29 countries, from Mexico to Germany, have begun vaccinating their populations against the virus, South Africa has yet to conclude any supply agreements with pharmaceutical companies. Kenya, a much poorer country than South Africa, expects to receive vaccine deliveries by the end of January or next month, according to the Nairobi newspaper Standard. Sunday reported, citing the country’s health secretary. It did not specify which vaccine.
An opinion piece published in local media and signed by senior members of the Progressive Health Forum, which includes the heads of medical associations and academics, called for Ramaphosa to fire health department officials for their failure to stockpile the vaccine. to ensure.
Click here for more information on the opinion piece
“As a healthcare worker with friends and colleagues at the forefront and knowing that healthcare workers who contracted Covid-19 and died to do their duty, we are committed to speeding up access to the vaccine so they can do their job,” Glenda Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council and a member of the forum, in response to inquiries.
South Africa, with more than 1.09 million confirmed Covid-19 infections and 29,175 deaths, is the worst-hit country on the African continent.
– Assisted by Golnar Motevalli
(Updates with comments from AstraZeneca in sixth paragraph, Pfizer from seventh.)