WHO says COVID vaccine drive in Africa hampered by crippling shortages & financial crisis

Africa's rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is being undermined by supply shortages and financial difficulties, the African regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO) informed on May 20. On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council called for accelerated availability of coronavirus vaccines for Africa.

In fact, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres admitted that the limited supply and access to vaccines is hampering and delaying Africa’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. “Out of 1.4 billion doses administered around the world today, only 24 million have reached Africa -- less than two per cent,” he said. 

The said WHO office listed out the delaying factors, such as shortage of vaccinations, weak communications and sub-optimal training.

WHO's regional office said in a statement, "While limited supplies of doses are hampering the large-scale rollout of vaccines, funding for operational costs is also a critical barrier. Eight countries have used up all their vaccines but over 20 countries have administered less than 50 per cent of their doses."

World Bank & Other Donors Willing to Finance Vaccine Drive in Africa

According to WHO's regional office, the vaccine shipments to the continent, through the COVAX programme have been stopped. Africa is said to have received only 18.2 million doses, about a quarter of the 66 million that it expected. The WHO statement further said that while COVAX, the Gavi vaccine alliance, the World Bank and other donors are ready to finance vaccination in Africa, decent financial planning is important for unlocking these funds. 

The statement further read, "Only a handful of African countries have made good use of the COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and Deployment Costing Tool produced by the COVAX Facility, which aims to help countries determine their funding needs. The tool is the first step to a well-structured budget, offering a quick yet comprehensive estimate of incremental costs."

As of now, 49 African countries have received a total of over 40.7 million doses from various sources. A total of 48 countries have administered more than 24.6 million doses, but only 5.6 million people have been fully vaccinated to date. COVAX is providing its share of vaccines for free to lower-income countries, but there are other significant costs. It is estimated that 60 per cent of each dollar spent on delivering vaccines is needed for operations, the WHO statement read. 

The World Bank calculates on top of the money needed to buy enough vaccines to ensure adequate protection from COVID-19, another 3 billion is required to deliver the vaccines into the arms of people.