WHO says Africa’s already thin vaccine supply to drop by 25%
NAIROBI, Kenya – Africa’s already thin supply of COVID-19 vaccines has taken another significant hit, with the World Health Organization’s Africa director saying Thursday that for various reasons, including the rollout of booster shots, “we will get 25% less doses than we were anticipating by the end of the year.”
Matshidiso Moeti’s comments to reporters
came as the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said just over 3% of people across the African continent have been fully vaccinated. That coverage drops to around 1.7% in sub-saharan Africa, according to the WHO.
African health officials are dismayed by Wednesday’s announcement that the global COVAX effort to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries is again cutting its delivery forecast. That revision, Moeti told reporters, is “in part because of the prioritization of bilateral deals over international solidarity.”
The COVAX challenges, along with export controls on vaccine doses and the introduction of booster shots by some countries, “really means at the end there has to be a calculation, a projection that we will get 25% less doses than we were anticipating before the end of the year,” she said.