12 °c
London
Saturday, December 2, 2023
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
No Result
View All Result
Home Africa

Afreximbank earmarks up to US$5B for COVID-19 vaccines for Africa: CDC head

Staff by Staff
October 23, 2020
in Africa, African Union, Coronavirus, Finance, Health
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
0

The African Export Import Bank is ready to raise up to US$5B to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for African countries, the head of the continent’s disease control body told Reuters yesterday.

John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Africa needs to be pro-active in the race to secure vaccines for the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 41 million people globally.

COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), will only be able to secure shots for less than 10% of the continent’s population of 1.29 billion, he said.

Western nations are spending billions to shore up supplies of potential inoculations.

Last month the European Commission reached agreements with drugmakers AstraZeneca AZN.L, Sanofi SASY.PA and GSK GSK.L to buy up to 700 million doses.

COVAX, designed to lower prices and discourage national governments from hoarding COVID-19 vaccines, aims to help buy and fairly distribute at least 2 billion doses of approved vaccines by the end of 2021.

“We are discussing with Afreximbank, and they… say look, we are ready to raise up to about US$5B to support additional doses of vaccines,” Nkengasong said in an interview. He added the money could be poured into COVAX or spent to negotiate directly with manufacturers.

Afreximbank did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Also read: Construction of Africa CDC headquarters in Ethiopia to begin ahead of schedule


The WHO said last month it wants to secure an initial 230 million doses of any COVID-19 vaccine for Africa, but Nkengasong warned that, accounting for two shots per person and leakages in distribution, this would only cover 8-9% of Africa’s population, far short of the 40-60% needed for immunity.

Nkengasong said the CDC has been in talks with the Serum Institute of India about manufacturing up to 200 million doses for Africa of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, should it prove successful.

Africa so far has 1,666,276 confirmed coronavirus cases and 40,344 deaths, according to a Reuters tally on Wednesday based on government and WHO data.

The WHO fears that “a significant number of cases are still being missed”, a senior official said on Thursday.

Many African governments are trying to expand their testing capabilities by increasing their use of antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said in a press briefing.

Rapid diagnostic tests, she said, do not require things that are needed for the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test but are in short supply in most African countries: materials in hot demand globally, such as reagents, technical staff, and advanced laboratories.

Testing in Africa lags other regions. Nigeria is conducting 11 times fewer tests than Brazil, she said, though the two countries have roughly comparable populations.

Source: Reuters

Related

Tags: Afreximbank earmarks up to US$5B for COVID-19 vaccines for Africa: CDC headafricaAfrica CDCAfrican UnioncoronavirusCovaxCovid-19Healthhealth carevaccineафрикаأفريقياアフリカ非洲
Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Energy

Germany and Namibia launch green hydrogen pilot research

by Energy Capital & Power
December 1, 2023
Energy

Bureau Veritas AgriFood goes solar in Cape Town

by Rafael Carvalho
December 1, 2023
COP 28

COP28: Mozambique advances climate-aligned transport vision

by Elizabeth Khumalo
December 1, 2023
IMF, World Bank say Africa to get US$57B from official creditors in 2020
Finance

Africa Merchant Capital and NIDIF partner on open access fibre network in Namibia

by Africa Global Funds
December 1, 2023
Agriculture

SAB’s initiatives to drive responsible consumption in South Africa

by FurtherAfrica
December 1, 2023
Mozambique eVisa
 
MozParks

Translate this page

Read the Latest

Energy

Germany and Namibia launch green hydrogen pilot research

by Energy Capital & Power
December 1, 2023
0

German material research institute, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), has announced a partnership with research agency...

Read more

Bureau Veritas AgriFood goes solar in Cape Town

December 1, 2023

COP28: Mozambique advances climate-aligned transport vision

December 1, 2023
IMF, World Bank say Africa to get US$57B from official creditors in 2020

Africa Merchant Capital and NIDIF partner on open access fibre network in Namibia

December 1, 2023

SAB’s initiatives to drive responsible consumption in South Africa

December 1, 2023

FurtherAfrica Partners Network

The Exchange Farmers Review Africa 360 Mozambique
TechGist Africa Energy Capital & Power Club of Mozambique
Taarifa Rwanda Web3Africa See Africa Today
Africa Global Funds Novafrica CrudeMix Africa
Harambee Africa Botswana unplugged Financial Insights Zambia
O Económico Digilogic Africa  

Subscribe to FurtherAfrica

Enter your email address to receive new articles on your email.

Join 107.2K other subscribers
FurtherAfrica

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

FurtherAfrica is a FurtherMarkets Limited platform

  • Countries
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?