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Quickly their dose. The United States will ship 25 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to Africa, senior American and African officials announced on Friday. Shipments should start in the coming days. A total of 49 African countries will receive doses of Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech.
First served, Djibouti and Burkina Faso will receive 151,200 doses of Johnson & Johnson, while Ethiopia will receive 453,600 doses, a senior official in the Biden administration said. The operation is carried out in coordination with multilateral organizations, including the African Union and Covax, the distribution mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Vaccine Alliance, Gavi.
Vaccinate 60% of the African population
Washington’s announcement comes as the rapid spread of the Delta variant raises fears of a new outbreak of cases around the world, with a particularly pronounced impact in Africa. The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 on the continent has climbed 43% in one week, the WHO alarmed Thursday, pointing to the lack of resuscitation places and the shortage of medical oxygen. “The Biden administration is committed to leading the global response to the pandemic,” said Gayle Smith, who coordinates issues related to Covid-19 within the US State Department.
Strive Masiyiwa, African Union (AU) special envoy, said the vaccines sent by the United States were a step towards the AU’s goal of immunizing 60% of the continent’s population, “in especially as we see a third wave in several African countries ”. The American donations are “a welcome and significant gesture”, commented Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank, a multilateral financial institution dedicated to the financing of trade, also involved in the operation.
Geographical inequalities remain glaring in the face of the pandemic, with on the one hand the nations which have set up all-round vaccination programs, and on the other the poorest countries, far behind in this area. The distribution of doses to developing countries has become a diplomatic issue in its own right, China and Russia being accused of using this lever to push their strategic interests.
The United States assures that it has no ulterior motives, but President Joe Biden, who generally intends to resume a leading role in international affairs, wants Washington to take the lead in the international response to the pandemic. His administration has already set aside 80 million doses for international distribution. It also promises to contribute $ 2 billion to the Covax initiative.
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