COVAX - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

Nigeria to reopen vaccination

NIGERIA is expecting a second shipment of nearly 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by early August and plans to resume giving out first doses, which had been halted to save its supply for second doses. Africa's most population has so far given a first dose to only around 2 million of its 200 million people. Fewer than 700,000 having received a second dose. Nigeria has been rationing 3.92 million doses it received through the COVAX global vaccine sharing programme in March, with its future supplies put in doubt by an export ban from India. In April, the government told…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Funding, vaccines sought from G20 nations

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY EMERGING powers among G20 countries including China, Brazil and India are being pressed to contribute urgent financing and COVID-19 vaccines for the COVAX dose-sharing facility, the World Health Organization and a Norwegian official have said. Ahead of the G7 summit this week, wealthy countries have also been pushed to follow the United States in making doses available immediately to cover a 200 million dose gap caused by Indian supply disruptions and manufacturing delays. So far some 150 million doses have been pledged to COVAX, far short of the 250 million needed by the end of September, and 1…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Burkina Faso receives first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

BURKINA Faso, one of several countries in Africa that has yet to launch a COVID-19 vaccination campaign, received its first shipment under the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, according to the health ministry. The 115,200 AstraZeneca doses were flown into the airport of the capital Ouagadougou and were welcomed by a local delegation led by health minister Charlemagne Ouedraogo. "In a few weeks other vaccines will probably arrive to supplement what we have," Ouedraogo said. The vaccination campaign, which will first target health workers, aims to eventually inoculate over 15 million of the West African nation's 21.5 million citizens, the ministry…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

‘We are waiting to die’: Desperation after India halts vaccine exports

COVID-19

NITA BHALLA and BEH LIH YI WHEN John Omondi received his COVID-19 vaccination last month, the Kenyan taxi driver counted himself one of the lucky ones. Now, he's not so sure - victim of a vaccine export freeze by mega-producer India that has dashed hopes of protection for millions of poor people caught in the pandemic. "It was a good day when I got the vaccine. I needed it because of my age and my work," explained Omondi, 59, as he navigated the busy roads of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "I am supposed to get my second dose in June,…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana to start second vaccine doses

COVID-19

GHANA received 350,000 doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine yesterday, which will enable it to start offering second doses of the shot after it nearly ran out, the health ministry said. The West African country was the first to receive vaccines from the World Health Organisation-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme in February and kicked off its vaccination campaign in early March. Unlike other countries where vaccine hesitancy and funding problems slowed delivery, Ghana has administered more than 900,000 doses, according to the health ministry, including the 600,000 doses it received from the COVAX scheme, and others obtained through bilateral…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt 4.9 million doses in May

COVID-19

EGYPT will receive another 4.9 million doses of different types of coronavirus vaccines in May. The earliest of these will be a shipment of 1.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine which is due to arrive next week as part of the global COVAX agreement, the Egyptian cabinet said in a statement. COVAX was established by the Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the equitable distribution of vaccines. Egypt will receive an additional shipment of 1.7 million AstraZeneca vaccines by the end of May, 1 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine to arrive…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine hesitancy slows Africa’s COVID-19 inoculation drive

COVID-19

MAGGIE FICK WHEN Edith Serem received her COVID-19 vaccination last month at a hospital in Nairobi where she works as a doctor, nurses jokingly warned she might start speaking in a foreign language. Serem said some colleagues got the AstraZeneca shot after watching her closely for several days to see if she was okay, but others refused, still wary of possible side effects. Health experts worry that public scepticism about taking the relatively small number of doses African countries have battled to procure could prolong a pandemic that has already killed more than 3.3 million people worldwide. "I'm not an…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Congo shares expiring vaccines with other African countries

COVID-19

THE Democratic Republic of Congo has begun re-deploying hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to other African nations which it says it won't be able to administer before they expire at the end of June, its health minister has said. Yesterday, afternoon a plane from Angola picked up almost half a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which had been supplied to Congo through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility on March 2. Congo delayed its rollout after several European countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca shot in response to reports of rare blood clots. Ghana, Togo, Central African Republic and Madagascar…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Donate $7 to save lives – WHO

COVID-19

PEOPLE across the world are being encouraged to donate $7 a dose in a World Health Organization-led push to raise extra funds for the COVAX international COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme. Launching the "Go Give One" campaign yesterday, the WHO's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it would allow anyone who wants to "to play their part in vaccinating the world with a simple donation" and, in time, help end the pandemic. The WHO estimates that $7 would cover the cost of buying and delivering a vaccine dose for someone in a low income country. The campaign also will seek matching funds from…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Congo to lose 1.3-million shots

COVID-19

HEALTH authorities are reallocating around 75% of Democratic Republic of Congo's 1.7 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses to other African countries to make sure they're used before they expire, a UNICEF representative has said. Congo received the doses from the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility on March 2, but delayed the rollout after several European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca shot in response to reports of rare blood clots. The country began its vaccination campaign on April 19, but had administered doses to just 1,265 people out of its population of over 85 million as of Saturday, according to the…