Africa has received around 824 million COVID-19 vaccines but only 19 percent of Africans are fully vaccinated, WHO says

On 24 May 2022, WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti (right) congratulates Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left) on his re-election as Director-General of the World Health Organization. WHO Member States re-elected Dr Tedros to serve a second five-year term as Director-General of the World Health Organization. Dr Tedros was first elected in 2017. His re-election was confirmed during the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva. He was the sole candidate. Todays vote was the culmination of an election process that began in April 2021 when Member States were invited to submit proposals for candidates for the post of Director-General. The WHO Executive Board, meeting in January 2022, nominated Dr Tedros to stand for a second term. Dr Tedross new mandate officially commences on 16 August 2022. A Director-General can be re-appointed once, in accordance with World Health Assembly rules and procedures. https://www.who.int/news/item/24-05-2022-world-health-assembly-re-elects-dr-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-to-second-term-as-who-director-general

Simon Ateba( Chief White House Correspondent )

Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa covering President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. government, UN, IMF, World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington and New York.

“Africa has made progress in COVID-19 vaccination. The continent has to date received around 824 million COVID-19 vaccines. The COVAX Facility, the multilateral platform established to facilitate equity in global vaccine distribution, has delivered more than 60% of these doses, while around 33% have been procured by countries through bilateral deals and donations. The African Vaccine Acquisition Trust has delivered around 7% and the rest are from other sources,” the World Health Organization Africa department said on Friday.

WHO noted that although vaccination coverage is still low, with only 19% of the African population fully vaccinated, some countries have accelerated their vaccine rollouts in the first six months of 2022.

It said, “Of the 26 countries that had fully vaccinated less than 10% of their populations by the end of 2021, nine surpassed 15% by the end of May 2022. These countries implemented nationwide mass vaccination campaigns and integrated COVID-19 vaccination into routine immunization campaigns. Six of these countries are those that have had intensified support from multi-partner country support teams which include WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and other partners.

“These teams will continue to support countries that have less than 10% of their populations fully vaccinated in the last six months of 2022 to unlock financing and improve vaccine delivery strategies and implement mass vaccination campaigns until the end of the year.

“To date, at least 32 countries have planned mass vaccination campaigns until end of the year. During mass vaccination campaigns, WHO recommends that countries set up bespoke service delivery strategies for targeted vaccination of high-priority groups – health workers, older adults and people with comorbidities.”

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