Covid-19 vaccine

African countries were able to triple COVID-19 vaccinations in the past week, but the prospect of inoculating up to 10% of the continent's population by the end of September is still elusive, Africa's head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. At the same time, the continent saw 248,000 new confirmed cases in the past week, with at least 24 countries seeing an increase in infections driven by the delta variant. "This is a tragedy that can be prevented if African countries can get…

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…

More African countries received the long-awaited first deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, with Kenya and Rwanda benefiting from the global COVAX initiative aimed at securing doses for the world's low- and middle-income countries. African and other health officials have been frustrated by the sight of a handful of rich countries rolling out vaccines after taking large quantities for themselves. "We will be known as the continent COVID" if Africa does not quickly reach its goal of vaccinating…