Coronavirus: Africa Union secures additional 400 million vaccines

The African Union (AU) has secured an additional 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for its member countries, the Africa Centre for Disease Control has said.

Already, the AU had earlier procured 270 million of the vaccines as announced by its Chairperson, Cyril Ramaphosa and President of South Africa.

President Ramaphosa earlier in January pointed that some 50 million doses of the vaccines would be made available to member countries between the period of April and June while other deliveries would be made later in the year.

Health experts have estimated that Africa would need some 1.5 billion doses of the vaccines intended for 60 percent of its population.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his part has assured citizens government was working to procure a vaccine by March 2021 with government set to begin negotiations with international pharmaceutical companies to source a suitable COVID-19 vaccine for Ghana.

This comes after the completion of a task by the Committee set up by Ghana’s government to make recommendations for the procurement of COVID-19 doses to fight the virus.

In general, Africa has not been spared the wrath of the coronavirus pandemic with cases recorded totalling 3.49 million, 2.97 million recoveries and a death toll of 87,937 according to the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention.