About five African countries had begun administering COVID-19 vaccines to their citizens.
The countries include Morocco, Guinea, Seychelles and Mauritius while South Africa and Egypt had already received a combined 6.5 million doses.
After speaking with selected journalists on Thursday, the leadership of the World Health Organisation, Africa region, said hopefully by the middle of February, the COVAX Facility, which is a Gavi-coordinated pooled procurement mechanism for developing COVID-19 vaccines and ensuring fair and equitable access, would make vaccines available to other African nations.
The Immunisation and Vaccines Development Programme Coordinator, WHO, Dr Richard Mihigo, said, “A few countries have started vaccination. Seychelles started immunising its population three weeks ago.
They have immunised 10,000 and their vaccination is still ongoing. Seychelles is using the Sinopharm vaccine. Mauritius started vaccination six days ago, using the AstraZeneca vaccines; close to 400 people have been immunised.
“Morocco received 1.4 million doses last week and is starting vaccination (January 29, 2021). South Africa has ordered close to 1.5 million and is expected to start vaccination very soon.”