Where Africa ranks in the global Covid-19 vaccine divide

While just over 2.8 billion Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally, only 1.7 percent of the global of those vaccines have been administered in Africa.

CAPE TOWN, June 24 (ANA) – While just over 2.8 billion Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally, only 1.7 percent of the global of those vaccines have been administered in Africa.

According to Our World in Data, a non-profit online publication based at the University of Oxford, 22.4 percent of the world population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

World in Data extracts their data from the most recent official numbers from various governments and health ministries, which also shows that only 0.9 percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.

“Within less than 12 months after the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, several research teams rose to the challenge and developed vaccines that protect from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,” read the statement on the publication’s website.

“Now the challenge is to make these vaccines available to people around the world… It will be key that people in all countries — not just in rich countries — receive the required protection,” it read.

The research further showed that Asia has administered 59% of the global vaccine jabs, followed by Europe at 17 percent and North America with 16 percent of the jabs.

Al Jazeera reported World Health Organisation senior advisor, Dr Bruce Aylward, said the COVAX initiative, which aims to provide access to the vaccine to poorer nations, has delivered 90 million doses to 131 countries.

With Africa having the lowest vaccine rates, the statistics show that only one out of every 40 people has received at least one jab and just one out of every 100 people are fully vaccinated.

– African News Agency (ANA); Edited by Naomi Mackay