This archive report was first published on 3 September 2021.
On September 2, 2021, the European Union made a significant move to address the critical shortage of vaccine supply in Africa. The EU agreed to send millions of coronavirus vaccine doses made in South Africa back to the continent, an African Union envoy announced.
South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare, which produces the Johnson & Johnson vaccine under a contract with the US pharma giant, will also stop sending doses to Europe, according to Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union's special Covid envoy. This decision aims to ensure that all vaccines produced at Aspen stay in Africa and are distributed to African countries.
"All the vaccines produced at Aspen will stay in Africa and be distributed to Africa," Masiyiwa said, adding that Aspen's arrangement to export the doses to Europe had been "suspended". He also praised the EU's decision, stating, "This issue has been corrected and corrected in a very positive way."
The announcement followed a meeting in Berlin between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen. As a result of this meeting, the first supplies of vaccines are expected to arrive in Africa this month. Additionally, the Europeans have committed to providing 200 million doses before the end of December.
According to Africa CDC director John Nkengasong, the number of people who have been fully immunized against coronavirus on the continent is approximately 2.93 percent. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warned that most African countries are likely to miss the crucial goal of vaccinating the most vulnerable 10 percent of their populations against Covid-19 by the end of the month.
