Africa faces shortfall of almost 500 million Covid-19 vaccine doses

Covax has called for countries with enough vaccines to give up their place in the queue for deliveries.

CAPE TOWN, September 17 (ANA) – The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday that the Covax facility responsible for equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines has been forced to slash planned deliveries to Africa by around 150 million in 2021.

The continent will therefore fall almost 500 million doses short of the global year-end target of fully vaccinating 40% of its population.

This shortfall comes as Africa tops eight million Covid-19 cases this week, said the WHO.

According to the report, with the cutback, Covax is now expected to deliver 470 million doses to Africa this year.

These will be enough to vaccinate just 17% of the population, far below the 40% target.

An additional 470 million doses are needed to reach the year-end target even if all planned shipments via Covax are delivered, said the WHO.

“Export bans and vaccine hoarding have a chokehold on vaccine supplies to Africa. As long as rich countries lock Covax out of the market, Africa will miss its vaccination goals. The huge gap in vaccine equity is not closing anywhere near fast enough. It is time for vaccine-manufacturing countries to open the gates and help protect those facing the greatest risk,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.

Dr. Moeti added that as deliveries are constrained by export bans, challenges in boosting production at vaccine-manufacturing sites and delays in filing for regulatory approvals for new vaccines, Covax has called for donor countries to share their supply schedules to give more clarity on deliveries.

Furthermore, Covax has also called for countries with enough vaccines to give up their place in the queue for deliveries.

The WHO said that manufacturers must deliver to Covax in line with firm commitments, and countries that are well advanced with vaccinations must expand and accelerate donations, ensuring doses are available in larger, more predictable volumes and with longer shelf lives.

About 95 million more doses are set to arrive in Africa via Covax throughout September, which will be the largest shipment the continent receives for any month so far. Yet even as deliveries pick up, Africa has been able to fully vaccinate just 50 million people, or 3.6% of its people.

Around 2% of the nearly six billion doses given globally have been administered in Africa. The European Union and the United Kingdom have vaccinated over 60% of their people and high-income countries have administered 48 times more doses per person than low-income nations.

“The staggering inequity and severe lag in shipments of vaccines threatens to turn areas in Africa with low vaccination rates into breeding grounds for vaccine-resistant variants. This could end up sending the whole world back to square one,” said Moeti.

The WHO said it is ramping up support to African countries to identify and address gaps in their Covid-19 vaccine roll-outs. It has assisted 15 African countries in conducting intra-action reviews, which analyse all aspects of their vaccination campaigns and offer recommendations for improvements. The reviews have shown that vaccine supply security and uncertainty around deliveries have been major impediments for many African countries.

The WHO is deploying experts and producing support plans where countries need tailored assistance, including securing staff, financing, strengthening supply chains and logistics and boosting demand for vaccines.

As of September 14, there were 8.06 million Covid-19 cases in Africa, and as the third wave wanes, there were nearly 125,000 new cases in the week ending September 12.

The WHO said that while this is a 27% drop from the previous week, weekly new cases are still at about the peak of the first wave and 19 countries continue to report high or fast-rising case numbers.

Covid-19-related deaths fell by 19% to 2,531 reported in Africa in the week to September 12. The highly transmissible Delta variant has been found in 31 African countries, while the Alpha variant has been detected in 44 countries and the Beta variant in 39.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher