Covid vaccination stagnates in Africa - WHO

Cape Town - COVID-19 vaccination coverage has stagnated in half of African countries, while the number of doses administered monthly declined by over 50% between July and September, a World Health Organisation (WHO) analysis has found.

The global target is to have of 70% of people with complete primary vaccination series by April 2025.

“The end of the Covid-19 pandemic is within sight, but as long as Africa lags far behind the rest of the world in reaching widespread protection, there is a dangerous gap which the virus can exploit to come roaring back,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.

“The biggest priority is to shield our most vulnerable populations from the worst effects of Covid-19. On this front, we are seeing some progress as countries step up efforts to boost coverage among health workers, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.”

The WHO analysis showed that the percentage of people with complete primary vaccination series (one dose for Johnson and Johnson and two doses for other vaccines) has barely budged in 27 out of 54 African countries in the past two months (17 August – 16 October 2022).

In addition, in September, 23 million doses were given, 18% less than the number registered in August, and 51% less than the 47 million doses administered in July.

The number of doses provided last month was also about one third of the peak of the 63 million doses reached in February 2022.

Overall, as of 16 October 2022, just 24% of the continent’s population had completed their primary vaccination series compared with the coverage of 64% at the global level.

To assist countries with intensifying vaccination efforts, WHO in Africa said it had embarked on a raft of measures including supporting countries to assess the preparedness for vaccination campaigns at provincial and district levels, tracking vaccination among priority groups, carrying out high-level advocacy to boost uptake, helping countries integrate Covid-19 vaccines in other planned mass vaccination campaigns as well as deploying surge missions to countries to improve quality of vaccination drives.

Cape Times