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After India banned exports due to the crisis, some African countries lacked the AstraZeneca vaccine for the second dose.
Senior African health officials said that due to India’s export ban in response to the serious resurrection of the disease, Africa’s vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is facing serious delays.
The AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India will be part of the UN-supported COVAX program to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
The director of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, John Enkengasson, said that India’s fatal crisis and its decision to stop production of all vaccines have severely affected the mass vaccination campaign in Africa, which has fallen behind many others in the world. area. Thursday.
Enkengasson said at the weekly news conference that several African countries have already managed all AstraZeneca vaccines they received, hoping to deliver a second dose of new vaccines to people.
But because India banned exports, these countries did not use AstraZeneca vaccine to give people a second dose.
Nkengasong said: “Considering what is happening in India, it is likely that there will be serious delays.”
He said: “Countries should consider how to obtain the Johnson & Johnson vaccine obtained through the AU Vaccine Purchase Task Force, which is a single-dose vaccine.”
Nkengasong said that since the outbreak of the virus, the African continent has confirmed 4.7 million infections, including 127,000 deaths, accounting for 3% of the global infection rate and 4% of the global deaths.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt together account for approximately 60% of all infections recorded on the continent.
He said that slightly more than 56,000 cases were recorded last week, and that compared with the previous week, the number of new infections has decreased by 6%.
Enkengasson said that nine African countries have found this variant, which currently dominates India.
Nkengasong said: “The spread of this virus and the way it spreads shows that it is a matter of time for this variant to spread more widely across the African continent.”
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