The vaccination rate against covid-19 must be increased sixfold in Africa so that the continent reaches the global objective of 70% of its vaccinated population established by the middle of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated in a report released this Friday, the 4th.
Has been the region furthest behind in obtaining immunizations but “the world has finally heard our calls. Africa is now accessing the vaccines it has demanded for far too long. This is a dose of hope for this year”, said the director of the WHO in the continent, Matshidiso Moeti.
Africa, with 1,320 million inhabitants, has received to date 587 million doses of vaccines, 58% of which through the Covax initiative, an alliance of states, UN agencies and private foundations to source and distribute immunizations and other materials in developing countries of the South.
Another 36% of the doses have been obtained by African states through bilateral agreements, and the remaining 6% through a vaccine procurement trust established by the African Union.
Although over the months supplies “have increased significantly,” according to the WHO, the continent continues to struggle to expand the implementation of the process, as only 11% of its population is fully vaccinated.
So far, only Mauritius and the Seychelles, island nations in the Indian Ocean, have reached the 70% target, and seven other countries have vaccinated around 40% of their population.
The WHO recorded that 21 countries have fully vaccinated less than 10% of their population, while 16 have vaccinated less than five percent and three have fully vaccinated less than two percent.
The optimism of officials such as Moeti is explained by facts such as the fact that 96 million doses were sent to Africa in January, more than double the number six months ago.
But now the spotlight is on the need to rapidly accelerate vaccine deployment.
Nowadays, six million people are vaccinated on average every week, and this number must increase to 36 million to reach the 70% target.
The WHO is launching new initiatives to try to resolve the bottlenecks, together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with extensive experience in vaccination campaigns, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.
The initiatives seek accelerate vaccination campaigns, so that the doses are administered as quickly as possible, before they expire.
The entities involved have deployed more than 50 experts in 20 of the 54 African States, in tasks of coordination, logistics, stock of vaccines, data management and surveillance of adverse events after immunizations.
Mohamed Fall, Unicef’s director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said his agency “is at the helm of the largest and most sophisticated ground operation in the history of immunization.”
He added that “it will take a response of the same magnitude to turn vaccines into immunizations,” urging richer countries to fund more operating costs.
According to WHO data in 40 countries, there is a $1.29 billion gap in funding.
Another positive feature is that the continent is emerging from its fourth pandemic wave, driven by the omicron variant, which was reported in 37 countries.
Cases have declined for the third week in a row. In the last one, cases were reduced 15%, while deaths fell slightly, by five percent. However, in the north of the continent, a 25% increase in deaths was reported.
Until February 3, the continent registered 10.8 million cases and more than 239,000 deaths from covid.
https://ipsnoticias.net/
The vaccination rate against covid-19 must be increased sixfold in Africa so that the continent reaches the global objective of 70% of its vaccinated population established by the middle of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated in a report released this Friday, the 4th.
Has been the region furthest behind in obtaining immunizations but “the world has finally heard our calls. Africa is now accessing the vaccines it has demanded for far too long. This is a dose of hope for this year”, said the director of the WHO in the continent, Matshidiso Moeti.
Africa, with 1,320 million inhabitants, has received to date 587 million doses of vaccines, 58% of which through the Covax initiative, an alliance of states, UN agencies and private foundations to source and distribute immunizations and other materials in developing countries of the South.
Another 36% of the doses have been obtained by African states through bilateral agreements, and the remaining 6% through a vaccine procurement trust established by the African Union.
Although over the months supplies “have increased significantly,” according to the WHO, the continent continues to struggle to expand the implementation of the process, as only 11% of its population is fully vaccinated.
So far, only Mauritius and the Seychelles, island nations in the Indian Ocean, have reached the 70% target, and seven other countries have vaccinated around 40% of their population.
The WHO recorded that 21 countries have fully vaccinated less than 10% of their population, while 16 have vaccinated less than five percent and three have fully vaccinated less than two percent.
The optimism of officials such as Moeti is explained by facts such as the fact that 96 million doses were sent to Africa in January, more than double the number six months ago.
But now the spotlight is on the need to rapidly accelerate vaccine deployment.
Nowadays, six million people are vaccinated on average every week, and this number must increase to 36 million to reach the 70% target.
The WHO is launching new initiatives to try to resolve the bottlenecks, together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with extensive experience in vaccination campaigns, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.
The initiatives seek accelerate vaccination campaigns, so that the doses are administered as quickly as possible, before they expire.
The entities involved have deployed more than 50 experts in 20 of the 54 African States, in tasks of coordination, logistics, stock of vaccines, data management and surveillance of adverse events after immunizations.
Mohamed Fall, Unicef’s director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said his agency “is at the helm of the largest and most sophisticated ground operation in the history of immunization.”
He added that “it will take a response of the same magnitude to turn vaccines into immunizations,” urging richer countries to fund more operating costs.
According to WHO data in 40 countries, there is a $1.29 billion gap in funding.
Another positive feature is that the continent is emerging from its fourth pandemic wave, driven by the omicron variant, which was reported in 37 countries.
Cases have declined for the third week in a row. In the last one, cases were reduced 15%, while deaths fell slightly, by five percent. However, in the north of the continent, a 25% increase in deaths was reported.
Until February 3, the continent registered 10.8 million cases and more than 239,000 deaths from covid.
https://ipsnoticias.net/
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