Africa CDC: Need To Vaccinate At Least 60% Of Africans

Cropped shot of a male patient getting an injection from a doctor

The head of the Africa Centre for Disease Control said on Thursday that the African continent needed to “find vaccines” in addition to the ones provided through the COVAX initiative if the continent was to get to a level of vaccination of at least 60 percent of its population of 1.3 billion people.

“During a news briefing, Dr John Nkengasong said the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative, which aims to ensure doses for the world’s low-and middle-income nations, “is promising to provide vaccines up to the level of 25 percent.”

He warned that if that 60 percent of people vaccinated will not be reached, it will be very difficult to manage the pandemic after 2022.So far Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Angola, Gambia and Congo also have received their first vaccine doses via COVAX, with several other countries including Mali, Senegal, Malawi and Uganda set to receive them this week.

COVAX has faced delays related to the severely limited global supply of vaccine doses as well as logistical issues.The African continent last month surpassed 100,000 confirmed reported deaths. – Associated Press TV News.