South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa
The African Union (AU) has started the distribution of coronavirus vaccines.
About 400 million doses are expected to be distributed.
Chairman of AU and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the commencement of the distribution.
The vaccines are being distributed to AU member states.
AU is aiming at delivering 25 million vaccines a month by January 2022.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine jabs are the ones being distributed.
According to Mr Ramaphosa, “This is a momentous step forward in Africa’s efforts to safeguard the health and well-being of its people.”
“This will provide impetus to the fight against Covid-19 across the continent and will lay the basis for Africa’s social and economic recovery,” he added.
Vaccination rates on the continent have lagged way behind the rest of the world. The South African president as well as other African leaders have accused wealthier countries of engaging in vaccine nationalism.
The 400 million vaccines should be enough to immunise a third of the continent’s population and bring Africa halfway towards the goal of vaccinating at least 60% of the people, the AU said.
By Melvin Tarlue