World Bank, AU collaborate to deploy COVID vaccines for 400m Africans

The World Bank and the African Union‘s COVID-19 Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) say they will work together to deploy vaccines for 400 million Africans.

The development came after David Malpass, World Bank president, met with a delegation of the AVATT to discuss ways to accelerate vaccine deployment to Africa.

In a statement on Monday, the organisations said it is essential that countries feel they can get sufficient doses quickly and in an affordable way, especially with over 41 countries at different stages of finalising their orders for purchasing the vaccine and with vaccination momentum growing.

Under the AVATT structure, AU member states are allocated vaccines according to the size of their population through a pooled procurement mechanism.

Once vaccines arrive across Africa, additional efforts will be required to support their deployment, which includes in-country distribution (logistics and storage in line with the cold-chain requirements), securing the required systems, capacities and capabilities for vaccination.

“It also includes targeted research and campaigns to identify and address vaccine hesitancy through clear and targeted risk communication and community engagement. These activities will require a significant lift by countries; the additional support is going to be critical,” the statement reads.

The AVATT had previously successfully secured up to 400 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine with the support of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

John Nkengasong, the director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and member of the AVATT, said the vaccine doses are a critical step towards the continental goal of vaccinating at least 60 per cent of Africans.

“Reaching this target is a prerequisite to saving African lives and livelihoods, safely reopening our economies and resuming our economic development agenda,” he added.

Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank, said his bank, by providing a $2bn guarantee on behalf of the AU member states, was able to help put Africa in a strong negotiating position with producers while holding talks on vaccine procurement

He also said that a deal would have been impossible without a strong financial backing.

In his remark, Strive Masiyiwa, AU special envoy and coordinator of the AVATT, said: “The World Bank’s decision to partner with AVATT on the heels of the US announcement about dose sharing means countries can be assured they can both access and finance the vaccines they need.”

Vera Songwe, United Nations under-secretary general and executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), recalled that the pandemic served to expose vulnerabilities already existing in Africa’s health systems which were well document in the ECA’s Health and Economic Growth in Africa (HEGA) report in 2019.

She noted that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) now provides the platform for building a resilient and inclusive health system, with local production of vaccines, medicines and medical equipment on the continent.