AU will allocate Covid-19 vaccines based on population size and epidemic severity
Avatt’s initiative is intended to complement Covax, which has promised 600-million doses to Africa by the end of 2021
The 270-million Covid-19 vaccines provisionally secured through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task team (Avatt) will be allocated to countries based on a formula that considers their population size and the extent of their epidemics, according to the director of the Africa Centre for Disease Control, John Nkengasong.
Avatt was established last August by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as chair of the African Union. It announced late on Wednesday evening that it had secured a provisional 270-million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, with at least 50-million doses to be made available in the second quarter of 2021. This period is crucial, as most of the vaccines from the international Covid-19 vaccine financing initiative Covax earmarked for African countries are only expected in the second half of the year, he said...
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