The African Union (AU) has reached an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to supply the continent with up to 400 million single doses of its COVID-19 vaccine starting in the third quarter of this year, the manufacturer said on Monday.
The virus has killed nearly 121,000 people across Africa and infected 4.18 million.
The J&J unit Janssen Pharmaceutica NV has entered into a deal with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to deliver 220 million doses of its single-dose shot.
AVAT was able to order an additional 180 million doses by 2022.
The deal follows months of negotiations with AU, which in January announced a provisional agreement to purchase 270 million doses of vaccines from J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech.
The status of the talks with the other two companies is not known.
J & J’s vaccine came on the market much later than AstraZeneca and Pfizer, but has recently gained widespread global acceptance, especially in Africa.
“J&J only requires a single dose, which makes it a very good programmatic to launch,” says John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
John Nkengasong, Africa’s head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), speaks in an interview with Reuters at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 11, 2020. (Reuters Photo)
He said the price of the J&J dose is likely to be $ 10.
In February, South Africa put the use of AstraZeneca’s shots on hold after data showed that it provided minimal protection against mild to moderate infection caused by the country’s dominant variant.
Several countries in Europe have stopped using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as they investigate a small number of reports of rare blood clots in people who received the shot. Global regulators have said the shot is safe and effective.
Pfizer’s shoots have more complex storage and transport needs than other vaccines, making it more challenging to distribute in warmer climates or in poorer countries.
AVAT said on Monday that many of the AU’s 55 member countries had shown a strong preference for J&J.
Africa is also struggling with a more infectious variant identified in South Africa amid concerns about delays in deliveries of AstraZeneca shots via the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Program (COVAX) aimed at delivering poorer countries. The continent’s first COVAX shipment of COVID-19 vaccine was received in Ghana less than five weeks ago on 24 February.
A hospital employee receives one of the country’s first coronavirus vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine provided through the global COVAX initiative at Yaba Mainland Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, March 12, 2021. (AP Photo)
The continent lags far behind nations, including Israel, the United States and Britain in its vaccination. The World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the gap “grotesque” when talking about different access to shots between rich and poor countries. Almost half of Britons have received their first dose, while only 0.4% of South Africa’s population has received a dose.
“We must vaccinate at least 60% of our population to get rid of the virus from our continent. The J&J agreement enables us to move towards achieving this goal,” Nkengasong said.
Most deliveries will be produced by Aspen Pharma in South Africa, says AVAT in a statement.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that South Africa will receive 30 million vaccines from Aspen’s plant, while a total of about 250 million will be distributed across the continent from the plant.
Aspen has agreed with J&J to manufacture 300 million doses.
As part of the AU vaccine plan, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved up to $ 2 billion in financing for countries to buy shoots via the AU.
Europe approved J & J’s single-dose vaccine earlier this month. The United States, Canada and Bahrain have also approved the shot.
Late last year, J&J said that it and the Gavi vaccine alliance expected to enter into a deal that would provide up to 500 million doses of the vaccine to COVAX by 2022.
