WHO: COVID-19 vaccination triples in Africa but still low
Al JazeeraAfrica CDC head says less than 3 percent of continent’s population have been vaccinated and blames vaccine inequality. COVID-19 vaccinations in Africa have tripled during the past week, though protecting even 10 percent of the continent by the end of September remains “a very daunting task,” the Africa director of the World Health Organization has said. The WHO Africa director said 13 million doses were administered in the past week, three times more than the number of shots given in the previous week as donations of doses increased from developed countries. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently said it was “unconscionable” that some countries are now offering booster shots “while so many people remain unprotected.” “I think it is very difficult for us to talk about booster doses in Africa,” Moeti said Thursday. “We have not covered even 5 percent of the population yet with the initial vaccinations that are needed to slow down the spread of the virus and most importantly, stop what we think might be a fourth wave which is coming.” Africa will receive 117 million doses in coming months but an additional 34 million will be needed to reach the 10 percent vaccination target, the WHO Africa director added.