To date, twenty of the 54 sovereign states of the continent have vaccinated at least 10% of their population.
If the vaccination rate does not increase in Africa by 2022, the continent may not reach 70% of its population vaccinated until August 2024, the World Health Organization warned today (WHO).
“In a world where Africa had the doses and support to vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of 2021, a level that many rich countries have achieved, we would probably be seeing tens of thousands fewer deaths from COVID-19 each year. that is coming, ”Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said at a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
Until now, Twenty of the 54 sovereign states of the continent have vaccinated at least 10% of their population while only six -Cabo Verde, Mauritius, Botswana, Morocco, Seychelles and Tunisia- have achieved 40% coverage and two of them -Mauricio and Seychelles- 70%.
“As supplies begin to increase, we must intensify our focus on other barriers to vaccination, including lack of funds, equipment, healthcare workers, and cold chain capacity, as well as addressing vaccine reluctance.” Moeti stressed.
The continent has received, so far, 350 million vaccines through the COVAX mechanism – promoted by the WHO and other organizations to guarantee global and equitable access to the vaccine -, of which around 80% arrived during the last four months, according to the UN agency.
Despite this increase in the delivery of doses, the lack of “predictability” was a problem for some countries, as authorities often learned of the total number to be received and its expiration date a few days before the arrival of the doses. drugs.
To avoid waste, COVAX has already modified its operation: while at first it tried to provide each country with the doses necessary to vaccinate 20% of its population, it now offers States the possibility not only of specifying which vaccine they prefer but also how many doses have the capacity to use, according to the WHO.
Looking ahead to 2022, Moeti called for solidarity from rich nations, not only in the form of donations, but also “by freeing up supplies so that countries that have managed to gather the resources can acquire them”, instead of the hoarding that Africa has denounced so far .
On the other hand, the continent begins to lose prominence with respect to the presence of the omicron variant, characterized by a high number of mutations and identified by South African scientists on November 25.
According to the WHO, of the more than 2,700 cases of the new variant of covid-19 detected globally in 59 countries, around 33% have been identified in 11 African nations, a percentage that is declining “steadily.”
However, more than 70 countries maintain travel restrictions aimed, above all, at African countries, including some where the variant has not yet been detected.
Over the past week, the continent saw an 83% increase in infections – driven by the delta and omicron variants – with cases currently doubling every five days, the shortest margin on record this year.
However, according to the WHO, the new deaths did not increase and were even reduced by 19% last week compared to the previous one, coinciding with preliminary data that seem to indicate high transmissibility but less severity than in previous waves.
Africa, which is already in its fourth wave of the coronavirus, has registered close to 9 million cases of covid-19 and almost 225,000 deaths to date, according to the latest official data. (I)
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