The African Union (Au) accuses the European Union of not doing enough for a fair distribution of anti covid-19 vaccines. “The fact is that Europe has vaccine factories, but no dose, no vial has left a European factory headed to Africa,” said Strive Masiyiwa, Au Special Coronavirus Envoy today.
“They have so many vaccinated that now they can watch football matches without a mask. It is time for Europe to open production centers. We need these factories, we do not ask for donations,” commented Masiyiwa, complaining that Europe said. Africa to turn to India to buy vaccines. Africa, he stressed, urgently needs vaccines: of the 70 million doses planned for this year, only 65 million have arrived. Providing hope for the continent is the start of production of Johnson & Johnson worldwide vaccines in a factory in South Africa in August, with 400 million doses forecast by the end of the year. “We have learned the lesson, we cannot depend on others to ensure vaccination safety on the continent,” commented John Nkengasong of the African Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC-Africa).
Out of 1.3 billion inhabitants, 5.5 million covid-19 infections have so far been recorded in Africa, a figure that is probably lower than reality. However, Africa is less affected than other continents, with 3% of world cases. At present, you have been given 50 million doses of the vaccine.