S Africa to provide 2 mn Corona vaccine doses for low income African countries: Prez office

Cape Town, Dec 17 (FN Agency) South Africa has signed a deal to donate over 2,000,000 domestically-produced Johnson & Johnson Covid 19 vaccine shots to low income African countries, the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday. “The South African Government has, through the African Renaissance Fund (ARF), signed an agreement with the African Vaccination Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to donate 2 030 400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid 19 vaccines to African countries,” the presidency said. The vaccines, evaluated $18.1 million, will be produced at the Aspen Pharma manufacturing plant in Gqeberha in the southern part of the country.

“This donation embodies South Africa’s solidarity with our brothers and sisters on the continent with whom we are united in fighting an unprecedented threat to public health and economic prosperity,” Ramaphosa said. The vaccines will be supplied to African countries through the African Medical Suppliers Platform (AMSP), over the next year. AVAT has already purchased over 500 million doses. The vaccine shots will be distributed among the lowest income member states. “As AVAT we have already received and distributed over 100 million doses of donated vaccines, most of which came as a result of President Ramaphosa’s tireless efforts with the richest nations like the United States, EU, and France,” African Union Special Envoy Strive Masiyiwa said, as quoted by the presidency.

According to the national vaccination strategy, AVAT’s aim is to secure the necessary vaccines and financing resources to achieve Covid 19 vaccinating of minimum 60 per cent of Africa’s population. Meanwhile, 10 African countries have already reported nearly 1,000 Omicron cases. Although the pace of vaccination has increased in recent months, only 7.8 per cent of Africa’s population is fully vaccinated, according to the World Health Organization’s official statistics.