COVAX - The African Mirror

Mar

2021

World Bank readies COVID-19 vaccine funds for around 30 African countries

ALEXANDER WINNING THE World Bank is preparing emergency financing to help about 30 African countries access COVID-19 vaccines, the global lender told Reuters, as the continent scrambles to secure doses and start immunising vulnerable groups. Only a handful of African governments have launched mass vaccination campaigns, whereas some countries in wealthier parts of the world have already administered millions of doses. Many rely on the World Health Organization's vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, which delivered its first doses last week with a shipment to Ghana. The World Bank said financing projects were being prepared in African countries including the Democratic Republic of…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Latest on the worldwide spread of the COVID-19

COVID-19

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States would have enough COVID-19 vaccine for every American adult by the end of May. The first doses of the Pfizer shots to be dispatched to Africa under the global COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme arrived in Rwanda yesterday. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news. EUROPE * The European Union aims to increase the region's COVID-19 vaccine production capacity to 2-3 billion doses per year by the end of 2021, Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton was quoted as saying. * German Chancellor Angela…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana kicks off vaccinations

COVID-19

CHRISTIAN AKORLIE GHANA began its coronavirus vaccination drive yesterday with 600 000 AstraZeneca doses it received from the global COVAX vaccine-sharing facility aimed at providing shots to developing nations to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. People lined up for shots outside the regional hospital in the capital, Accra, for a first phase of vaccinations which will prioritise frontline health workers and others at high risk. "I feel so good about taking the vaccine. It will protect me from contracting the virus from patients," said Bernice Anaglatey, 42, who works in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Accra's Ridge Hospital as…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria takes delivery of its first vaccines

COVID-19

NIGERIA yesterday received its first COVID-19 vaccines to kick off an inoculation programme in Africa's most populous nation, delivered under the international COVAX scheme. The West African nation of 200 million people took delivery of 3.92 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Nigeria is the third West African country to receive COVAX shots, after Ghana and Ivory Coast, which have both started vaccination campaigns. Dozens of Nigerian officials, wearing yellow high-visibility jackets and facemasks, met the flight delivering the vaccines on the airport tarmac in Abuja. The government aims to start by vaccinating frontline healthcare workers, the highest-priority recipients, in…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast starts vaccination drive

COVID-19

LOUCOUMANE COULIBALY IVORY Coast yesterday launched the world's first COVID-19 inoculation drive with doses imported from the COVAX sharing facility, a milestone in the race to extend vaccine access to poorer countries. Patrick Achi, the secretary-general at the presidency, was the first to be vaccinated at a sports complex in the commercial capital Abidjan. Onlookers cheered as a health worker in a white coat and pink scrubs delivered the injection. Medical personnel, teachers and security forces members were also being vaccinated in the first phase of the campaign targeting 3% of the population. "The vaccines offer us the hope of…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria to receive 3.92 million doses

COVID-19

NIGERIA expects to take delivery of 3.92 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow, the third West African country to benefit from the COVAX facility after Ghana and Ivory Coast, the government's coronavirus task force said yesterday. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with some 200 million people, has reported fewer than 1,900 COVID-19 deaths so far, much better than had been widely predicted early in the pandemic. Last week, Nigerian drug regulator approved the Astrazeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine use in Nigeria. The dispatch is part of an overall 16 million doses planned to be delivered to Nigeria in batches over the…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

W.H.O warns vaccine selfish countries

COVID-19

COUNTRIES seeking their own vaccine doses are making deals with drug companies that threaten the supply for the global COVAX programme for poor and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization has warned. "Now countries are still pursuing deals that will compromise the COVAX supply," WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward told a briefing. "Without a doubt." The World Health Organization has long called upon rich countries to ensure that vaccines are shared equitably. It is one of the leaders of COVAX, a programme to supply hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to poor and middle income countries. But so far, COVAX…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria expects first 4 million vaccine doses

COVID-19

NIGERIA is expecting its first 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines next week from the global COVAX vaccine programme for poor and middle-income countries, the head of the World Health Organization mission in Nigeria said yesterday. Chikwe Ihekweazu Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO representative in Nigeria, told a briefing by video link that Nigeria was expecting 14 million doses in total. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said the situation in Nigeria was so far much better than had been widely predicted early in the outbreak. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with some 200 million people,…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast gets 500 000 COVAX vaccines

COVID-19

IVORY Coast received a shipment of COVID-19 doses from the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility yesterday, becoming the second country to benefit from a programme meant to ensure fairer distribution amid a global scramble. A plane carrying 504 000 doses touched down in the commercial capital Abidjan, paving the way for the West African nation to launch a vaccination campaign. By the end of this year, COVAX plans to deliver nearly 2 billion doses to over 90 low- and middle-income countries, hoping to level a playing field that has seen wealthier nations vaccinate millions while comparatively few have received shots in poorer…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

India sends vaccine to Africa

COVID-19

INDIA has made its first shipment of a locally made COVID-19 shot to the WHO-backed equitable vaccine distribution network COVAX, the government said. "Fulfilling our commitment to help the world with COVID-19 vaccines, supplies of Made-in-India vaccine commence today for Africa under COVAX facility," Anurag Srivastava, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, said on Twitter. The World Health Organization this month paved the way for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine's global roll-out by approving emergency use of the product produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker, and SK Bioscience of South Korea. SII will…