The World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional office for Africa on Thursday said eight out of ten nations in Africa are at risk of missing the globally set target of vaccinating 10% of the most vulnerable groups against Covid-19 by the end of September, reported Africa News.
In a statement, the WHO Africa said as per collected data 42 out of Africa’s 54 nations are likely to miss the target with the current speed of delivery and administration of vaccines.
The statement said that nine African countries, including South Africa, Morocco, and Tunisia, have reached the global target of vaccination set by the World Health Assembly, three other countries are on track, and two could achieve it if they increase the pace of vaccinations.
At a media briefing on Thursday, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, called for more efforts in the fight against the pandemic, adding that 26 Africans die of the virus every hour.
Moeti said vaccine hoarding has set Africa back and African countries urgently need more vaccines. She added that African countries need to step up their efforts as more doses arrive.
According to WHO, nearly 21 million doses of vaccine arrived in Africa through the Covax facility in August, as many as in the previous four months.
It added that Africa could receive enough doses to meet the 10% target with doses expected to be delivered from COVAX and the African Union by the end of September.
Notably, while many countries have been able to accelerate immunization with shipments in August, 26 countries have used less than half of the COVID-19 vaccine doses they already have.
The WHO said the number of Covid-19 cases is down slightly in Africa but remains stubbornly high. It added that the pandemic is still raging on the continent, which is home to nearly 1.3 billion people.
