COVID-19: 15 African nations achieve 10 per cent vaccination goal, says WHO

Just 2% or less of the population has been fully vaccinated in half of the African countries that have received COVID vaccines, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday, September 30. The WHO further said that 15 of the 54 African nations have managed to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of their population, thereby achieving the target set by WHO for September 30.

Vaccination against COVID in African nations 

The world’s highest health policy-setting body, the World Health Assembly in May had set a global goal of fully vaccinating 10% of every country’s population by 30 September. Furthermore, the WHO informed that nearly 90% of high-income countries have achieved the target set by the World Health Assembly. Among the 52 African countries that have received COVID vaccines, half of them have fully vaccinated only 2% or less of their population, the WHO said in a statement.

According to WHO, Morocco has vaccinated 48% of its population, Seychelles and Mauritius have fully vaccinated more than 60% of their populations. Meanwhile, Tunisia, Comoros and Cape Verde have vaccinated over 20% of their population. The WHO has noted that most of the African nations that have achieved the goal set by WHO have relatively less population and 40% of them are small island nations. "All these countries have enjoyed sufficient supplies of vaccines, and many could access doses from separate sources in addition to those delivered through the COVAX Facility, the global platform to ensure equitable access to vaccines", the WHO said in the statement. 

The World Health Organisation pointed out that 23 million COVID vaccines reached Africa in September, marking a tenfold increase from June. Furthermore, the COVID-19 cases in Africa have dropped by 35% to just more than 74,000 in the week of 26 September. About 1800 deaths have been reported across 34 African countries in the same period.

Dr Richard Mihigo, Immunization and Vaccines Development Programme Coordinator for the WHO Africa in the statement said, "The latest data shows modest gains but there is still a long way to go to reach the WHO target of fully vaccinating 40 per cent of the population by the end of the year. Shipments are increasing but opaque delivery plans are still the number one nuisance that hold Africa back". Mihigo further stated that despite the decline in cases, they need to remain vigilant to ensure that COVID protocols are followed. 

Image: AP