COVAX Will Supply the First Batch of Vaccines for Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti announced that this continent will receive 90 million doses of COVID-19's vaccines this month.

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The first batch will be delivered through the United Nations COVID-19 Vaccines mechanism (COVAX), which notified African countries that most of the doses were produced by AstraZeneca.

Moeti affirmed Africa has been marginalized in the distribution of vaccines so far. Therefore this first vaccination campaign is fundamental to ensure the continent's fair access to the vaccines. 

The official also added that it is necessary to secure good storage conditions in order to guarantee a safe transfer of the vaccines from the receiving ports to health facilities. "We cannot afford to waste a single dose," she said.

The WHO goal is to vaccinate at least 20 percent of Africans by the end of 2021, a task that requires at least 600 million doses.

The African Union has also secured another 670 million vaccines that will be distributed up to the end of 2022.

As of Thursday morning, the African countries had reported 3.6 million COVID-19 cases and 93,000 deaths, according to the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention.