AstraZeneca Marks Anniversary of First COVAX Vaccine Deliveries to Africa

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Rebecca Ejifoma 

Committed to expanding and accelerating vaccine supply to the African region this year and beyond to help governments reach their vaccination targets, AstraZeneca had marked one year of delivering first COVAX vaccines to Africa. 

One year ago, the first doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine began to arrive in countries across the world through the COVAX initiative, as part of the largest global vaccination drive in history.

Last 24th February, health authorities in Ghana received 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Within days, Ivory Coast got 504,000 doses. Since then, more than 310 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered through COVAX to 130 countries.

An estimated 70 million doses have reached sub-Saharan Africa, making the AstraZeneca vaccine one of the most used COVID-19 vaccines across the continent to date.

The Country President for Africa, AstraZeneca, Barbara Nel expressed that as part of their commitment to putting broad and equitable access at the heart of our pandemic response, AstraZeneca was the first global pharmaceutical company to join COVAX in 2020. 

“Our strong partnerships with the Serum Institute of India (SII), GAVI – the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization are vital to deliver on our commitment to supply Africa with the COVID-19 vaccine at no profit,” she added. 

She further commended governments across the continent for the works they are doing to increase immunisation coverage and to protect their citizens from severe disease.