The African Union said on Wednesday it had secured 270 million doses of anti-Covid vaccine for the continent, in an agreement that would benefit countries that could not fund their own vaccination campaigns.
Under the agreement, the vaccines are supplied by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
The doses will supplement the vaccines secured by Covax, the global effort to obtain and distribute vaccines that have concluded agreements to secure two billion doses.
‘From the beginning of this pandemic, our focus as a continent has been on cooperation and collective effort. We have adhered to the principle that no country should be left behind, ‘Cyril Ramaphosa, chairman of the South African president and AU, said at a special meeting of the African Union on Wednesday.
Ramaphosa, who set up the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), gave details of the doses he received at the special meeting.
The task force was set up in August to ensure that the African continent can receive adequate doses to bring about community immunity.
“As a result of our own efforts, we have so far secured a commitment of a preliminary amount of 270 million vaccines from three major suppliers: Pfizer, AstraZeneca (through Serum Institute of India) and Johnson & Johnson,” he said.
All 270 million vaccine doses will be made available this year, with 50 million between April and June, reads a statement without giving further details about the schedule.
Despite Covax’s efforts, the African Union added in a statement that it remains concerned that the volumes released between February and June could not go beyond the needs of leading healthcare workers, and that it may not be enough to take the increasing toll of the pandemic in Africa.
‘Another challenge is that the target of 600 million doses of Covax will cover only about 300 million people across the African continent, which is only about 20% of the population,’ he said.