AU Secures 270 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses

By ADF On Feb 2, 2021

A South African woman receives a shot at a COVID-19 vaccine trial facility in Johannesburg. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ADF STAFF

As COVID-19 cases spiked in parts of Africa, the African Union announced on January 14 it had secured 270 million vaccine doses that are now available for all member states to order.

The vaccines are being secured through the AU’s COVID–19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team — not through COVAX, the global vaccination effort, Nicaise Ndembi, senior science advisor for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told The Associated Press.

Doses secured by the AU will supplement the COVAX supply, which is due to arrive in Africa in March. Population size will determine how much of each vaccine African countries will be offered.

“These are historical times. For the first time in history, Africa has secured access to millions of vaccine doses in the middle of a pandemic,” African Union Special Envoy Strive Masiyiwa said on the Africa CDC’s website. “There is still a huge shortage of vaccine doses, and that is why this continental collaboration has designed a fair allocation coupled with timely and equitable access of COVID-19 vaccines across the continent.”

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) will provide advance guarantees of up to $2 billion to manufacturers Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, according to the Africa CDC.

African nations will pay between $3 and $10 per vaccine dose, according to a draft briefing on the AU plan prepared by Afreximbank and provided to Reuters. Countries can pay back the loans in installments over five to seven years.

Dr. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa CDC, said prices were comparable to those available through COVAX.

“My thinking is that the vaccines market will open up in the coming months when, for example, Johnson & Johnson and others land on the market,” Nkengasong told Reuters. “For now, what is critical is access to the market, secure quantities and start vaccinating.”

Provided through the Serum Institute of India, the AstraZeneca vaccine may be best suited to African health systems because it does not require storage at ultra-low temperatures. According to Reuters, Serum will provide 100 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine at $3 each — enough to vaccinate 50 million people with its two-dose regimen.

Pfizer will provide 50 million doses of its two-shot vaccine at $6.75 each. The European Union and the U.S. are paying about $19 per dose, and Israel is paying $30 for the same vaccine. Johnson & Johnson will provide 120 million doses of its single-shot vaccine at $10 each; the U.S. is paying about $14.50 a dose for that vaccine, including development costs, Reuters reported.

Zambia reacted quickly to the AU’s announcement and was allocated 8.7 million doses, though the number could rise to 25 million doses by December.

“Through [the AU’s] mechanism, we can access the vaccines by April 2021,” Emmanuel Mwamba, Zambia’s permanent representative to the AU, said in a zambiareports.com story.

Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest population, has requested 10 million doses through the AU plan. By supplementing its vaccine procurement through COVAX, the government aims to vaccinate 40% of its 206 million people this year and another 30% by the end of next year, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, told Voice of America.