AFRICAN COUNTRIES SIGNING UP FOR INITIATIVE TO ENSURE THAT THEY HAVE ACCESS TO THE COVID-19 VACCINE

  WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that African countries have started signing up for an initiative that would ensure that once a vaccine is developed, every country would have access to it. The initiative that is referred to as COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) seeks to ensure that 220 million doses of the vaccine are available for the African continent once the vaccine is licensed and approved. COVAX was launched by several organizations which include the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and WHO. The different organizations seek to ensure that 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses are available for the world by the end of 2021.

Once the vaccines are available, they will be distributed across the world and everyone will have equitable access to the vaccine. The aim is to ensure that even countries that are not able to pay, have the vaccine availed to them.  The head of the World Health Organisation's Immunisation and Vaccine Development in Africa, Richard Mihigo said, “Communities should prepare the way for one of the largest vaccination campaigns Africa has ever experienced.” As the initiative was being announced, Kenya announced a decline in new coronavirus cases being recorded in the country.  The country has recorded over 35,000 cases so far with fatalities standing at about 600 since the start of the pandemic. In Africa, there are more than 1 million confirmed cases and more than 30,000 deaths.

There must be equal access to the vaccine globally if the pandemic is to be managed. If the vaccine is made available to only a select few countries, then the virus would continue spreading across the world. With the virus, until it is eliminated in every part of the world, no one will be safe.

All the African countries have expressed interest in the COVAX initiative. “The initial batch will cover 20 percent of the African population, initially prioritizing the front line, healthcare workers, then expanding to cover vulnerable groups,” said Mr. Richard Mihigo.

For the African countries to be considered when the vaccine is discovered they must participate in the ongoing global Covid-19 vaccine trials. This was emphasized by Dr. Richard Hatchett, Cepi chief executive who said, “Testing vaccines on the continent ensures that sufficient data is generated on the safety and efficacy of the most promising vaccine candidates for the African population so they can be confidently rolled out in Africa once vaccines are approved.”