Syringes shortage could scuttle Covid vaccination plans, WHO warns

The roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines in Africa could be hampered by limited access to syringes, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

According to a statement released yesterday by the global health agency there is no global stockpile of the 0.3ml specialised syringes, which differ from the 0.5ml syringes used for other types of Covid-19 vaccines and routine vaccination. The market for 0.3ml auto-disable syringes is tight and extremely competitive. As such, they are in short supply and will remain so through at least the first quarter of next year.

“The looming threat of a vaccine commodities crisis hangs over the continent. Early next year Covid-19 vaccines will start pouring into Africa, but a scarcity of syringes could paralyse progress. Drastic measures must be taken to boost syringe production, fast. Countless African lives depend on it,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

At the same time, WHO has expressed fears that only five out of 54 African countries will hit the year-end target of fully vaccinating 40 per cent of their people, unless efforts to accelerate the pace are made. Seychelles, Mauritius and Morocco, have already met the target that was set in May by the

World Health Assembly, with Tunisia and Cabo Verde almost hitting the target.

Africa has fully vaccinated 77 million people, just 6 per cent of its population. In comparison, over 70 per cent of high-income countries have already vaccinated more than 40 percent of their people.

To date, Botswana has fully vaccinated over 268 000 people, which translates into 11.4 per cent of the population.