“A massive influx of doses means that Africa must go all out and speed up the vaccine rollout by five to six times if we are to get all these doses into arms and fully vaccinate the most vulnerable 10% of all Africans by the end of September,” said Dr Moeti.
Nearly 70% of African countries will not reach the 10% vaccination target for all countries by the end of September at the current pace. Around 3.5 million to 4 million doses are administered weekly on the continent, but to meet the September target this must rise to 21 million doses at the very least each week.
Just 20 million Africans, or 1.5% of the continent’s population, are fully vaccinated so far and just 1.7% of the 3.7 billion doses given globally have been administered in Africa. High-income countries have administered 62 times more doses per person than low-income countries.
The World Bank estimates that in addition to the US$ 9.5 billion needed to buy enough vaccines to ensure adequate protection from COVID-19, another US$ 3 billion is required to fund operations.
“To increase uptake, countries must scale up operations, investments on operational costs and address vaccine confidence. Countries need sufficient vaccine sites and health care workers, sufficient vaccine storage, and adequate transport and logistics for distribution,” said Dr Moeti.
To boost the uptake of vaccines, African countries must address the fear of side-effects which are major drivers of people’s reluctance to get vaccinated. This includes using political and traditional leaders as vaccine champions, community mobilization efforts and addressing mis- and disinformation on social media.
WHO is working with African countries to better plan and cost operational and delivery processes to support the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, including conducting reviews of the first.
Dr Moeti spoke during a virtual press conference today facilitated by APO Group. She was joined by Hon. Dr Osagie E. Ehanire, Minister of Health, Nigeria, and Hon Dr Sidi Zahaf, Minister of Health, Mauritania. Also on hand to answer questions were Dr Richard Mihigo, Coordinator, Immunization and Vaccines Development Programme, WHO Regional Office for Africa; Dr Thierno Balde, Team Leader, Operational Partnerships, WHO Regional Office for Africa; and Dr Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi, Regional Virologist, WHO Regional Office for Africa.
