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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Africa has dropped by more than 50 percent in the past three months, the World Health Organization said Thursday, though less than a quarter of all Africans have been vaccinated. vaccinated
Despite the increased availability of vaccines on the continent, Africa is still far from the global average, with only 24% of the population having completed their number one COVID-19 vaccination series, compared to 64% globally.
“The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight, but as long as Africa is far from the rest of the world in achieving widespread protection, there is a damaging hole that the virus can exploit to come back strong,” said Dr. Stuart. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
Only 3 African countries (Liberia, Mauritius and Seychelles) have vaccinated more than 70% of their population. Rwanda is expected to meet the benchmark soon, with four others also achieving 50%, the WHO said on Thursday.
Once COVID-19 vaccines became available in 2021, Western countries piled up for supplies, leaving many African countries last to get the doses. Some African countries have also said that doses administered through Western countries are shipped too close to their expiration date to be fully used.
Africa now has good enough vaccines, Moeti said Thursday. But as the number of cases has declined, so has interest in getting vaccinated. Only 4281 new cases were reported on the continent last week, around 1. 3% of Africa’s peak in December 2021. the WHO said.
“Unfortunately, because vaccines have helped prevent serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths similar to COVID-19, other people are less afraid and also less willing to get vaccinated,” Moeti said.
However, significant progress has been made, according to Aurelia Nguyen, special advisor to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.
“And since the beginning of the year, 22 countries have achieved that milestone,” Nguyen said. “We have Burkina Faso and Malawi, which are the newest countries to do it. We have Mali, which is expected to succeed by more than 10%. politics in the coming weeks. “