A test to detect Covid-19, in South Africa on May 22, 2020. -

Themba Hadebe / AP / SIPA

The African Union (AU) has secured 400 million additional doses of Covid-19 vaccine for countries on the continent, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday.

This announcement brings to 670 million the number of doses that must be available in the next two years for African countries, most of which cannot afford to finance the immunization of their populations.

"We are starting to make very good progress"

"Four hundred million additional doses of vaccines have been guaranteed from the Serum Institute" (in India), "the director of this specialized agency of the AU, John Nkengasong, said Thursday at a press conference.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), or Institut Serum, produces millions of doses of the vaccine against the Covid-19 Covishield at high speed, developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, for India and a large part of the developing countries.

“If you add 400 million doses to the 270 million doses, I think we start to make really good progress,” added John Nkengasong.

Vaccination campaigns already started in four countries

The AU announced on January 13 that it had obtained a first batch of 270 million vaccines, of which at least 50 million will be available between April and June.

John Nkengasong said that all vaccines will be available "between this year and next year".

He underlined how much the vaccination of the African population represents a “historic effort”.

Four African countries have already started to vaccinate their populations: Morocco, Egypt, Seychelles and Guinea, he said.

Maurice also announced the start of his campaign on Tuesday.

1.5 billion vaccines needed for the continent

According to estimates, the continent will need 1.5 billion vaccines to immunize 60% of its 1.3 billion inhabitants, at a cost varying between 5.8 and 8.2 billion euros.

At the World Economic Summit in Davos on Tuesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will very soon leave the rotating AU presidency, lambasted rich countries for "monopolizing" anti-Covid vaccines and warned against anything “Nationalism” in strategies for acquiring precious doses.

The initiative launched by the AU, named Avatt (African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team) is distinct from the Covax system, the World Health Organization (WHO) and private partners, for equitable access to vaccines.

Africa has been officially relatively spared from the pandemic so far: the continent has recorded 3.4 million cases for 87,000 deaths, according to Africa CDC.

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