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Africa has few options for acquiring Covid-19 vaccines as the disease outbreak worsens in many parts of the continent, the South African presidency said.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE have offered to supply Africa with 50 million Covid-19 vaccines for healthcare workers between March and the end of this year, the presidency said in a response to Bloomberg on Sunday.
Moderna Inc has no supplies for Africa, while AstraZeneca Plc has no vaccines for the continent in 2021 and has directed the African Union to negotiate with the Serum Institute of India Ltd, which is manufacturing the vaccine on behalf of AstraZeneca. The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, is the President of the African Union.
Ramaphosa’s response comes after days of harsh criticism in South Africa over the country’s vaccination strategy from health leaders, unions and opposition parties.
Although four vaccine trials are underway in the country, South Africa has only arranged to buy enough injections for 10% of its population of 60 million people through the Covax initiative, which is designed to ensure equitable access. to vaccines.
These are likely to start arriving in the second trimester. Some African countries have their own plans for the procurement of vaccines. Most do not.
“We are working hard in South Africa and on the continent to protect our people against Covid-19,” the presidency said.
South Africa is recording a record number of infections and deaths and neighboring Zimbabwe is entering a strict 30-day lockdown. The South African economy probably contracted the most in nine decades last year, according to official estimates.
In an emailed statement, a representative from AstraZeneca said the company has “created a number of supply chains around the world to provide a comprehensive and equitable supply of the vaccine.”
The statement named Covax and the Serum Institute of India as the main channels through which African countries can access vaccines.
Cost ‘prohibitive’
The cost of Pfizer vaccines is “prohibitive,” the president said. A Pfizer representative confirmed the talks with the African Union and declined to elaborate.
In a subsequent statement, a UK-based Pfizer representative said the company remained “firmly committed to equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.”
“We have allocated doses for supply to low- and lower-middle-income countries at a non-profit price and we are actively working with governments around the world,” the emailed statement read.
Discussions are underway with Johnson & Johnson, which is conducting a trial in South Africa and plans to produce 300 million doses a year at a factory in the country owned by Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd when the injection is approved.
J&J “has not clarified whether Africa will benefit from vaccines made in South Africa,” the presidency said. “We still have to negotiate the price that is affordable for Africa.”
South Africa is holding direct talks with vaccine suppliers, including J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer, about supplies for the country, the presidency said.
South Africa’s medical device regulator is using so-called continuous review, which allows it to evaluate vaccine data as it becomes available during trials to evaluate the J&J injection. It will do the same for AstraZeneca and Pfizer when applied.
Richest nations
African countries would have been in a better position to gain early access to AstraZeneca and other vaccines if they had been “as strategic” as richer nations and initiated discussions directly with producers and in parallel with early efforts to ensure access to Covax, Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccination and director of the South African branch of the AstraZeneca trial told Bloomberg.
“The Covax facility, while noble in its mission of social solidarity for equitable access to vaccines, was never likely to break the legacy of the delay needed before life-saving vaccines are available to low-income countries. and medium, ”Madhi said.
While at least 29 countries, from Mexico to Germany, have begun inoculating their populations against the virus, South Africa has yet to conclude any supply agreements with pharmaceutical companies.
Kenya, a country much poorer than South Africa, expects to receive the vaccines in late January or next month, the Nairobi Standard newspaper reported Sunday, citing the country’s health secretary. He did not specify which vaccine.
On Saturday, an opinion piece published in local media and signed by senior members of the Progressive Health Forum, which includes the heads of academic and medical associations, called on Ramaphosa to fire health department officials for failing to secure supplies. of vaccines.
“As a healthcare worker with friends and colleagues on the front line and meeting healthcare workers who contracted Covid-19 and died in the line of duty, we are obligated to try to speed up access to the vaccine so that they can do their job. “. Glenda Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council and a member of the forum, said in response to inquiries.
South Africa, with more than 1.09 million confirmed Covid-19 infections and 29,175 deaths, is the most affected country on the African continent.
Read: Health Leaders Call For Ramaphosa To Fire Officials Who Caused Vaccine Delays
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