A joint WHO and UNICEF team welcome COVAX shipment in The Gambia
ADDIS ABABA, March 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The COVAX equitable vaccine distribution program has so far delivered 12 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to a total of 17 African countries as of March 6.
According to Matshidiso Moeti, head of the World Health Organization, WHO’s Africa region, six of the 17 countries have so far started vaccination.
The most recent recipient of doses is Djibouti, which is located in the Eastern Mediterranean Region according to WHO classification. Majority of the countries served so far fall in the sub-Saharan region.
Most countries are receiving the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines. Only Rwanda has received the AstraZeneca shots along with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines which require extremely cold conditions for storage.
The highest consignment so far has gone to Nigeria with close to 4 million doses delivered days ago. Vaccination kicked off Friday with President Muhammadu Buhari receiving his coronavirus shot publicly Saturday at the presidency.
The 17 nations: Ghana (600,000 AstraZeneca shots), Ivory Coast (500,000),
Nigeria (3.92 million), Angola (624,000), DR Congo (1,700,000), Kenya (1,000,000), The Gambia (36,000), Rwanda (240,000 AstraZeneca shots, 102,960 Pfizer shots).
Djibouti (undisclosed), Sao Tome and Principe’ (24,000), Senegal (324,000),
Malawi (360,000), Mali (396,000), Sudan (800,000), Uganda (864,000), Liberia (96,000), Lesotho (36,000). — NNN-AGENCIES