African Union Secures 270 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] The African Union (AU) announced on the 13th (local time) that it has temporarily secured 270 million doses of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa and Chairperson of the African Union, stated that the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Force organized by the union achieved this result.

The secured vaccines will be supplied by pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines to be supplied through the Serum Institute of India (SII), which holds independent licenses. Officials expect that up to 50 million doses of the secured vaccines will be available for procurement between April and June.

This vaccine acquisition was carried out to supplement the international vaccine procurement program COVAX, led by the World Health Organization and others. To support the AU member countries' vaccine acquisition, the African Export-Import Bank will provide an advance payment guarantee of up to $2 billion.

Additionally, in cooperation with the World Bank, support will be provided to enable financial assistance of approximately $5 billion for member countries to purchase additional vaccines or settle vaccine delivery costs.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.