The African Union has announced that it intends to purchase additional doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine directly from the Serum Institute of India, and instead focus on the vaccination of Johnson & Johnson.
John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC), said the decision was not related to recent safety issues regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine, but ‘because we are working very closely with COVAX’, the fax-sharing facility for the world’s poorest countries.
Nkengasong on Thursday addressed a virtual newsletter from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, saying the pivot to Johnson & Johnson is to ensure that the “Indian Serum Institute is able to donate to the COVAX mechanism.”
“It was just a clear understanding of how not to duplicate the efforts with the Serum Institute so that we complement each other rather than do duplication,” he added.
Last week, the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) signed a 220 million dose pre-emption agreement with Johnson & Johnson on behalf of the 55 member states of the African Union (AU).
Nkengasong said he hoped the vaccines would be available by the beginning of the third quarter.
The AU will now explore options to obtain an additional 180 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, he said.
“Since the vaccine Johnson and Johnson is a single dose, it means we have the ability to immunize 400 million people on the continent if the countries open it up,” he said.
The AU’s decision comes a day after the European Regulatory Authority (EMA) ruled that there was a ‘possible link’ between the AstraZeneca vaccine and ‘very rare cases of blood clots’.
However, Nkengasong said: ‘this (AstraZeneca) vaccine is still safe. We would still recommend that the vaccines be used. He reiterated the findings of the EMA, saying: “the recommendation is still that the benefits of receiving the vaccine outweigh the risk of the unusual and rare side effects of the vaccine.”
Nkengasong confirmed that ‘a total of 33.8 million doses of vaccine have been obtained so far, with approximately 12.9 million doses administered’.
He welcomed the news that ‘Seychelles and Mauritius have received enough doses of COVID vaccine to reach a 20% vaccination target, which the COVAX facility has promised.’
“I think every step and progress we make on the continent is good progress” and “it’s always good to highlight those success stories,” he added.