WHO: Africa needs 21m COVID vaccines weekly to meet 10% population target by September

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says African countries will need 21 million COVID vaccine doses weekly to meet the 10 percent population target by September. 

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said this at a media briefing on Thursday.

She noted that the continent currently rolls out about four million doses weekly but more shots are required to speed up vaccination.

Moeti said Africa has seen a steady nine-week spike in infections, excluding data from South Africa, which accounted for 37 percent of these cases.

The agency’s regional director said the current rise is 80 percent higher than Africa’s previous peak, outside data from South Africa.

“Nearly 70 percent of African countries will not reach the 10 percent vaccination target for all countries by the end of September at the current pace,” she said.

“Around 3.5 million to four million doses are administered weekly on the continent, but to meet the September target this must rise to 21 million doses at the very least each week.”

Moeti said more vaccine doses are expected in the continent, adding that COVAX and other partners will distribute “over half a billion” shots this year.

“Around 60 million doses are set to arrive in the coming weeks from the United States of America, team Europe, the United Kingdom, purchased doses, and other partners through the COVAX facility,” she added.

“Over half a billion doses are expected through COVAX alone this year.

“This small step forward offers hope and inspiration but must not mask the big picture for Africa. Many countries are still at peak risk and Africa’s third wave surged up faster and higher than ever before.

“The Eid celebrations which we marked this week may also result in a rise in cases. We must all double down on prevention measures to build on these fragile gains.”

Meoti said there is a need to speed up vaccination, adding that Delta, the highly infections variant of coronavirus, has been recorded in 26 African countries.

She said 20 million Africans representing 1.5 percent of the continent’s population have been fully vaccinated against COVID while 1.7 percent of the 3.7 billion doses distributed globally had been administered in Africa.

Meoti further said in addition to the 9.5 billion dollars required to buy vaccines to ensure adequate protection from COVID-19, World Bank estimate that three billion dollars is required to fund operations.

“A massive influx of doses means that Africa must go all out and speed up the vaccine rollout by five to six times if we are to get all these doses into arms and fully vaccinate the most vulnerable 10 per cent of all Africans by the end of September.

“To increase uptake, countries must scale up operations, investments on operational costs, and address vaccine confidence.

“Countries need sufficient vaccine sites and health care workers, sufficient vaccine storage, and adequate transport and logistics for distribution.”