“If we do not get up to at least 60% vaccination (of the population), Africa will be known as the ‘continent of Covid’ going forward.”
This was said by Africa CDC director Dr John Nkengasong on Thursday, at the weekly briefing, during which he urged people to get a jab as soon as vaccines became available.
“In the coming days we will start the early deliveries of the first doses to 16 to 20 countries. It will be extremely exciting,” he said.
The African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) secured these vaccines for health workers using R370m donated by MTN.
The Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot is now going into the arms of health workers in SA, while a Chinese vaccine is being given in Senegal, Morocco, Egypt and the Seychelles. Earlier, about 60 people in Guinea received the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
Ghana got its first shipment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, provided by the Covax scheme (Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access), on Wednesday.
The AU vaccinations task force is working flat out to get vaccines to the continent for the broader programme, expected kick off late March into April.
“I have never been part of any group that works every day, from 8 o’clock to 10 o’clock at night, on how to deliver vaccines to the continent. This is the task force that (AU) President Cyril Ramaphosa put together,” said Nkengasong.
“I’m personally excited that tiny steps are being [made]. A journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step ... I’m in a celebratory mood. Bravo to Africa!, which has started receiving vaccines.”
The Africa CDC director said all 270 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines secured by AVATT for member states have been allocated and contracts are being finalised with the suppliers.
“We cannot sign contracts without orders coming in. I wish we could do 55 member states at the same time,” Nkengasong said, when asked why Ghana was first in line for vaccines from Covax, a decision to which he was not privy.
By Thursday nearly 3.9 million cases of Covid-19 had been reported in Africa, though seroprevalence surveys suggest the true number is much higher, and more than 102,000 people had died.
“If, at the end of 2019, someone would have said 100,000 Africans were going to die, what would we have done? This is a dangerous virus and we have to deny that virus the ability to spread,” Nkengasong said.
“We must continue to wear masks, avoid crowded rooms and mass gatherings. One extra person dead is one too [many].”
The number of deaths dropped, on average, by 18% during the month January 25 to February 24, and new cases of Covid-19 decreased by 19%.
On the continent 21 countries have a case fatality rate higher than the global average of 2.2% — the top three are the Sahrawi Republic (16.7%), Sudan (6.2%) and Egypt (5.8%) — while the average fatality rate for the continent is 2.7%.
The case fatality rate for Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Guinea amounts to more than half of those who get infected, at 53%. Nine people have died out of 17 Ebola cases reported to date.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic started 54 states have been reporting new cases and deaths daily or weekly, but Tanzania stopped sharing data in May, when only 509 people were infected in Africa’s sixth most populous state.
I’m not against a vaccine passport, but first let everybody get access to vaccines.
— Dr John Nkengasong, Africa CDC director
Nkengasong said he is encouraged by the report that President John Magufuli has recognised Covid-19 is a problem in Tanzania.
“Now we can engage with Tanzania and share data to inform our response ... and develop appropriate public health strategies,” said Nkengasong. “Covid will not be eliminated on the continent of Africa unless it is eliminated in every country.”
The Africa CDC’s expert committee (Africa Regulatory Taskforce) has reached out to Russia and China for all available data about their vaccines to review them, Nkengasong said.
Russia has submitted a full dossier for the committee. China has not yet submitted one, but Nkengasong said they “remained optimistic” it will.
The Africa CDC will be issuing a communique approving the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, already approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), he said.
Three scenarios guide approval by the Africa CDC of vaccines.
“Under scenario 1, the vaccine is approved by World Health Organisation and this is great. We don’t repeat (their work), we move forward,” he said.
“Under scenario 2, the vaccines have been approved by respected regulatory authorities, like the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), and we have a look and produce an opinion.
“The last scenario is like the ones we cited, Russia and China, and we use our own task force to review those,” Nkengasong said.
The Africa CDC does not conceive a vaccination programme based on one product but a combination of vaccines. “As clinical trials are completed, the menu of vaccines will improve,” he said.
SA is among nine member states reporting the coronavirus variant known as 501Y.V1, and among 10 states reporting the 501Y.V2, which has decreased the efficiency of proven vaccines, such as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Africa CDC chief reiterated the need for Africa to establish ways of manufacturing its own diagnostics, vaccines and drugs — or risk being left behind.
He said the body will be the first to raise its voice against the implementation of a Covid vaccine passport now.
“It would be extremely unfortunate (and) would deepen the inequality divide,” he said. “I’m not against a vaccine passport, but first let everybody get access to vaccines and have a level playing field.”
Nkengasong concluded: “We, and I mean the collective we ... should rally around the vaccination campaigns and make sure we promote this simple equation: vaccines plus vaccinations equals saving lives.
“Or we will get into the valley of death, where vaccines are available, but we can’t get to the other side.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.