"COVID-19 Vaccines to Be Delivered to 20 African Countries Starting Next Week"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will begin delivering vaccines to about 20 countries across the continent starting next week to prevent COVID-19.

John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa CDC, said at a press conference on the 18th (local time), "I am pleased to announce the delivery of the first one million doses of vaccines across the continent." He introduced that the vaccines to be distributed this time are AstraZeneca (AZ) products, and the primary recipients will be healthcare workers.

So far, only 7 out of 54 African countries have started COVID-19 vaccinations. Zimbabwe is expected to launch its vaccination campaign this week. Senegal, which is accelerating its vaccination campaign, also received its first batch of China's Sinopharm vaccine on the same day.

In the case of South Africa, instead of the AZ vaccine, which has low efficacy against the locally emerged variant, vaccinations have started with the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine. South Africa is planning to provide the one million doses of AZ vaccine it has already imported to other African countries. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, reported that 12 countries without detected variants have shown interest in South Africa's proposal.

Director Nkengasong dispelled concerns that South Africa is trying to offload inferior products by stating, "The AZ vaccine is a very effective vaccine," and encouraged its continued use. The AZ vaccine is considered crucial for developing countries as it does not require cold storage facilities.

According to the latest data from Africa CDC, the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa is about 3.8 million, accounting for 3.5% of global infections. The number of COVID-19 deaths on the continent has surpassed 100,000.

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