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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Vaccinations against COVID-19 in Africa may not begin until the second quarter of next year, the continent’s top public health official said on Thursday, adding that it would be “extremely dangerous “if more developed parts of the world get vaccinated then restrict travel to people with proof of vaccination.
The director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters that “I have seen how neglected Africa is when medicines are available” in the past.
And he warned that “it’s clear that the second wave (of infections) is here on the continent” of 1.3 billion people. Africa surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus infections last week.
The Africa CDC is “very, very encouraged” by the promising news of a handful of COVID-19 vaccines in clinical trials, although the cold room needed to deploy some in Africa will be a major challenge, Nkengasong said. He cited such logistics in his prediction of the start of vaccinations in Africa.
The Africa CDC has discussed vaccine options with Russia, China and others as it seeks not to be left behind in the race for doses. Nkengasong said the mainland will need around 1.5 billion doses, assuming two per person, to achieve the 60% coverage needed for herd immunity.
“The worst thing we wish for the continent is for COVID to become an endemic disease” in Africa, he said.
World Health Organization Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti said in another presentation the goal was to vaccinate 20% of the continent’s population by the end of next year.
But the WHO has warned that a study of the 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in its region found that just under half, or 49%, have “identified priority populations for immunization and have established plans to achieve them ”, and only 24% have adequate resource and funding plans.
According to the WHO, it would take more than $ 5 billion to deploy a COVID-19 vaccine in Africa just for priority populations – and that does not include the costs of delivering the vaccines.
In a promising development, authorities have started distributing 2.7 million antigen tests across the continent, which Nkengasong says is “perhaps a game changer” that makes testing faster and easier. .
So far, around 21 million tests have been carried out in the 54 African countries.
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