The European Union (EU) has decided to return COVID-19 vaccine doses that it imported from South Africa following criticism by health activists, reported Business Insider.
At a press conference on Thursday, African Union envoy Strive Masiyiwa said the decision to return the vaccine doses has been taken as part of a deal reached between President Cyril Ramaphosa and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen last week.
Mr. Masiyiwa said as part of the deal, the EU will also not take doses produced at Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. it was expecting in September.
Notably, South Africa’s Aspen operates the plant exporting millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses to Europe. As per Aspen’s contract with J&J, the company has to fill into vials and package the U.S. company’s vaccine, with some 40% of its production slated for export to Europe through September and the rest to African countries. Aspen expects to produce 500 million doses of the J&J vaccine from January 2022.
“That arrangement has been suspended,” Mr. Masiyiwa said at a news briefing Thursday. “All the vaccines from this facility are now under the control of the South African government.
The African Union has signed a deal to buy up to 400 million doses of J&J’s single-dose vaccine, enough to vaccinate around 30% of its citizens. But, only about 50 million of those doses were due to be delivered this year. Mr. Masiyiwa said the vaccine doses are expected to increase to around 70 million thanks to the agreement with the EU.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the WHO warned that 42 of Africa’s 54 countries are most likely to miss a target of vaccinating at least 10% of their citizens by the end of September. The continent is currently suffering through a record wave of infections driven by the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus.
