Remarks by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
Thank you very much, Adrian. I’d like to join you in warmly welcoming Ms Dena Ringold and Ms Razia Khan to this press conference, and I very much look forward to hearing their perspectives on the economic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic and on financing the vaccine rollout. Dena, thank you so much for joining us so early in the morning where you are, and Razia, it’s wonderful to meet you, my compatriot in this press conference.
There have now been 4.7 million COVID-19 cases and 127,000 lives sadly lost on the African continent. So far, 24 million Africans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and 5.5 million have received two doses.
So, when we look at access to the vaccines, we see great inequalities across countries – Seychelles is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world, with 67% of population having received at least one dose. In Morocco they’ve reached 29%, and in Mauritius 17%. Whereas in 14 African countries less than 1% of the population has received a single dose and in five countries vaccination hasn’t started at all.
COVID-19 vaccine shipments to African countries have slowed down to a trickle this month because of the reliance on India as one of the key manufacturers globally, and the devastating surge of cases that the country is dealing with. The continent was expecting 66 million doses through COVAX from February to May, but instead has so far received only 18.2 million.
While in Africa, on average fewer than 2 in 100 (that’s 2 per cent), of people have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, in some high-income countries more than 8 out of 10 people (that’s 80 per cent) have been reached. This is a huge difference.
This means that as people living in richer countries can hit the reset button this summer and their lives will return to a semblance of normal, in Africa our lives will continue to be on hold. We can still catch-up and make up for the lost ground, but time is running out.
While African countries await shipments of COVID-19 vaccines, many are struggling to rollout even their limited doses, and second doses to complete the course of vaccination are at risk. Funding for operational costs is also a critical barrier. It’s estimated that 60% of every dollar spent on delivering vaccines is needed for logistics and operations.
Urgent action, therefore, is needed to finance Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The World Bank estimates (and I am sure we will be hearing from Dena) that in addition to the 9.5 billion dollars needed to buy enough vaccines to ensure adequate protection from the virus, another three billion is required to fund vaccinators, cold-room storage, logistics, equipment and transport to deliver them.
COVAX, the World Bank and other partners are supporting co-financing of these additional costs, but countries need to develop robust financial plans and cost estimates to access these funds. As WHO we are working with governments to improve planning and costing for the operational and delivery processes to support COVID-19 vaccine rollout and providing support to access funding opportunities. We are also collaborating closely with the African Union and the Africa CDC on their efforts with Afreximbank.
International solidarity is crucial in supporting the vaccine rollout. We welcome the pledge by the United States this week to share 80 million doses with other countries, with a substantial proportion expected to go through COVAX, in addition to recent shipments of vaccines from France to Mauritania, and pledges by several other high-income countries.
There is great interest and a push for manufacturing on the African continent, and this is a promising medium- to long-term solution.
To save lives and prevent severe illness now, and to speed-up the recovery from this pandemic, it’s in the interests of all countries to rapidly increase coverage of the vaccines globally. African countries also need to see what domestic resources are available to support this social and economic priority.
So, it’s critical to use this time, while there are only limited resources, to cost and plan for a more effective rollout and ensure that all doses are used as effectively as possible.
So, I look forward to a very good discussion of these matters with you, and again welcome and thank you for having joined us.