Covid-19: The African Union accelerates in the race for vaccines

The African Union has already secured a total of 670 million doses of vaccine (Illustrative image).

© ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP

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As the battle rages on the planet to obtain anti-Covid vaccines, the African Union claims to have secured 400 million additional doses, bringing the number of pre-purchased doses to 670 million.

The continent hopes to receive these vaccines as early as April.

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The 400 million newly acquired doses will be provided by India, and in particular by the

Serum Institute of India,

which manufactures the vaccine developed by the British laboratory AstraZeneca.

50 million doses could arrive on the continent as early as early April, says John Nkengasong, director of CDC, the African Center for Disease Controls.

He is optimistic that his body has already secured a total of 670 million doses of vaccine.

According to specialists, a total of 1.5 billion doses would be needed to vaccinate 60% of the populations of Africa.

Countries are also buying from their side

The financing of these purchases is provided both by Afreximbank, the African foreign trade finance bank, and by the World Bank.

At the same time, Africa is also counting on the Covax program launched by the WHO, the World Health Organization, but which is still slow to materialize its promises.

Still, these multilateral initiatives do not go fast enough in the eyes of some.

Thus South Africa will receive on Monday February 1 a million doses purchased directly from the AstraZeneca laboratory.

But as the South African president complained during the Davos summit, his country will pay the doses two and a half times the price paid by the Europeans.

A handful of other countries, including Morocco, Egypt and

Mauritius,

have also started vaccinations without waiting for group purchases from the African Union.

► To read also: The South African president castigates the rich countries which monopolize the anti-Covid vaccines

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  • Coronavirus

  • Health and medicine

  • African Union

  • South Africa

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