Delays in Covid-19 vaccine shipments to Africa are expected to continue this month after India temporarily banned exports of the shots as it grapples with a severe second wave of infections.
Most African countries are largely dependent on Covax, a global initiative meant to provide equitable access to vaccines that’s backed by the World Health Organization. Covax is reliant on AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 shot and leans on the Serum Institute of India Ltd. to manufacture its allotments.
The limited stocks and supply bottlenecks have put vaccines “out of reach of many people in Africa,” with many countries in the region barely having started to inoculate their citizens, WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said in a briefing Thursday.
Less than 2% of the 690 million doses administered globally have been in Africa, where most countries received vaccines only five weeks ago and in small quantities, she said.
Adopted from Bloomberg
