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Africa Planning Rapid COVID-19 Vaccines Rollout – WHO

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The World Health Organisation, WHO, says Africa is getting ready to rollout COVID-19 vaccines as WHO hosted the African Health Ministers and deliberated on necessary steps to achieve the feat.

The WHO Regional Office for Africa, in a statement issued from its headquarters in Brazzaville, Congo on Thursday, February 18, 2021, stated the continent was planning for a rapid vaccine rollout.

The statement said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa had on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, briefed Health Ministers on the region’s overall state of readiness for Africa’s largest-ever immunisation drive.

She also briefed them on planned vaccines delivery dates and next steps, including documentation required by COVAX related to regulatory readiness, indemnity, and liability agreements so vaccine manufacturers could schedule shipment dates.

According to the UN health agency, rapid vaccine rollout is expected in the wake of the WHO listing of two versions of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

“In a significant step forward for the African region, national deployment and vaccination plans for COVID-19 vaccines from 35 low-income African countries eligible for free vaccines from the COVAX Facility have been accepted by an independent regional review committee.

“The plans are required for countries to receive vaccines from COVAX, the global initiative to ensure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines led by WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI.

“While the regional committee of over 100 experts from six leading global public health bodies certified the deployment plans, it called for more work on setting up systems.

“It called for more work on setting up systems to manage the logistics and supply chain for vaccines, reaching refugees, migrants, and internally displaced people and financing national vaccination campaigns,” said the statement.

The statement quoted Moeti, as saying, “Africa is revving up to rollout COVID-19 vaccines.

“These thorough vaccine preparation plans will help ensure African countries can hit the ground running in quickly immunising the most vulnerable people.

“Meticulous planning is key to ensuring vaccines reach all priority groups, wherever they are, in every single African country.”

The statement also quoted Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director, Country Programmes, GAVI, as saying, “COVAX is open for business.

According to WHO, the move to roll out COVID-19 vaccines comes as new evidence shows new variants of the virus are spreading across the continent.

It stated in all the African countries that had detected the new variants, the pandemic spread faster in the second wave than in the first one.

Variant 501Y.V2 [also known as B1.351] first identified in South Africa is predominant in South Africa and Zambia and has been detected in a total of nine African nations including Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The VOC202012/01variant [also known as B1.1.7] first detected in the United Kingdom has been found in six African countries, Gambia, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa.

In addition, it stated that countries were strongly urged to use the AstraZeneca vaccine even if the SARS-CoV-2 new variants are present.

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