Africa has few options for purchasing Covid-19 vaccines as the outbreak of the disease is exacerbating in many parts of the continent, the South African presidency said.
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE has offered to provide Africa with 50 million Covid-19 vaccines for health workers between March and the end of this year, the presidency said in response to Bloomberg on Sunday. Moderna Inc. has no stocks for Africa while AstraZeneca Plc has no photos for the continent in 2021 and has ordered the African Union to negotiate with the Serum Institute of India Ltd., which makes the vaccine on behalf of AstraZeneca. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the President of the African Union.
Ramaphosa’s response comes after days of devastating criticism in South Africa of the country’s vaccine strategy from health leaders, unions and opposition parties. Although four vaccine trials are underway in the country, South Africa has only made arrangements to purchase enough injections for 10% of the population of 60 million people through the Covax Initiative, which is designed to provide fair access to guarantee the vaccines. These are likely to start arriving in the second quarter. Some African countries have their own plans for the purchase of vaccines. Most not.
“We are working hard in South Africa and on the continent to protect our people from Covid-19,” said the Presidency.
South Africa reports record numbers of infections and deaths and neighboring Zimbabwe is entering a strict 30-day shutdown. The South African Economy according to official estimates probably the most contracted in nine decades last year.
In an emailed statement, an AstraZeneca representative said the company has “created a number of supply chains around the world to provide a broad and fair supply of the vaccine.” The statement cites Covax and the Serum Institute of India as the main channels through which African countries can access vaccines.
‘Prohibited’ costs
The cost of Pfizer’s vaccines is “prohibitive,” said the presidency. A Pfizer representative confirmed talks with the African Union and declined to provide further details.
In a subsequent statement, a Pfizer representative in the UK said the company “remained committed to fair access for Covid-19 vaccines.”
“We have allocated doses for delivery to low- and low-middle-income countries at a non-profit price and we are actively working with governments around the world,” the email said. statement said.
Discussions are taking place with Johnson & Johnson, which is conducting a trial in South Africa and plans to deliver 300 million doses per year at a plant in the country owned by Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. when the admission is approved.
J&J “has not clarified whether Africa will benefit from vaccines produced in South Africa,” said the presidency. “We still have to negotiate the price that is affordable for Africa.”
South Africa is in direct talks with vaccine providers, including J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer, about supplying the country, the presidency said. The health product regulator in South Africa uses what is called a rolling evaluation, which allows it to review vaccine data as it becomes available during the trials to assess J & J’s intake. It will do the same with AstraZeneca and Pfizer when they sign up.
Richer countries
African countries would have been in a better position to have early access to AstraZenecas and other vaccines had they been ‘as strategic’ as wealthier countries and started directly with producers and in parallel with early attempts to access Covax, Shabir Madhi, a vaccineologist professor and head of the South African arm of the AstraZeneca trial, Bloomberg said.
“The Covax facility, while noble in his social solidarity mission for fair access to vaccines, will likely never break through the legacy of the delay required for life-saving vaccines to become available to low- and middle-income countries, ”said Madhi.
While at least 29 countries, from Mexico to Germany, have begun to vaccinate their populations against the virus, South Africa has not yet signed supply agreements with pharmaceutical companies. Kenya, a much poorer country than South Africa, expects to deliver vaccines in late January or next month, Nairobi Standard newspaper reported on Sunday, citing the country’s health minister. It did not specify which vaccine.
On Saturday, an op-ed published in local media and signed by senior members of the Progressive Health Forum, including heads of medical associations and academics, called for Ramaphosa to fire health department officials for failing to secure vaccine supplies. to set.
Click here for more information about the opinion piece
“As a health worker with friends and colleagues on the front line and knowing health professionals who have contracted Covid-19 and passed away on duty, we are obligated to try to speed up access to the vaccine so they can do their job,” said Glenda Gray , chairman of the South African Medical Research Council and forum member, in response to questions.
South Africa is the worst hit country on the African continent with more than 1.09 million confirmed Covid-19 infections and 29,175 deaths.
– With the help of Golnar Motevalli
(Updates with comments from AstraZeneca in 6th paragraph, Pfizer from 7th.)