Coronavirus: Africa remains on the sidelines of the vaccination campaign

Africa remains “on the sidelines” of the campaign vaccination against covid-19, with only “2% of vaccines administered worldwide”, said today the director for Africa of the World Health Organization Machidisco Moeti during an online press release.

The continent, however, is the least affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with 4.3 million cases, of which 114,000 deaths in a population of 1.2 billion, according to the latest WHO-Africa report, compared to 2.9 million deaths. on a global scale.

The slowness of vaccination in Africa is explained by “problems of lack, funding, lack of qualified personnel”, as well as logistical problems, according to Moeti.

The official underlined the consequences of the slowdown in vaccine exports from India under the Covax mechanism, which aims to provide access to medicines and vaccines for poor countries.

“Promoting vaccines and delivering them to the population is fraught with transport and refrigeration problems,” and sometimes wasted doses, said Mohamed Malik Fal, director of the UNICEF for Children. East and South Africa.

“Vaccination through the Covax program is on its way to all African countries,” Fal said, while calling for increased distribution capacity and better efficiency.

Recognizing the reservations and concerns in Africa about the AstraZeneca vaccine, the most widely distributed through the Covax program, but which is controversial for its side effects, Moeti and Fal stressed the importance of combating “fame” and “fame”. .

They recalled that polio vaccine reservations in the past in some countries, such as Nigeria, had finally been overcome.