African countries should use vaccines they receive “as soon as possible” before the deadline expires, the director of the African Union Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), John Nkengasong, insisted today.
“Countries must do everything possible to use available vaccines quickly, every time they vaccinate they are reducing the risk of death of the vaccinated person and the spread of the virus,” Nkengasong stressed, speaking at the organisation’s weekly press conference from the headquarters of the African Union (AU) health agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
As of 19 April, Africa had acquired 36.2 million doses of vaccines, of which it had administered 15 million, figures that leave the AU’s 55 member states “still far from” the target set by the pan-African organisation of vaccinating 30 percent of an estimated population of 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.
Africa hopes to be able to vaccinate 60% of its population by the end of 2022 in order to achieve group immunity, but this goal is being strongly threatened by the suspension of AztraZeneca’s vaccine exports by the Indian institute, Serum, reaffirmed this week.
India, with a population of 1.35 billion, is facing the second wave of the pandemic, having this week surpassed 15 million infections with the new coronavirus and the 180,000 deaths associated with covid-19 since the pandemic began.
India has been recording successive new daily highs in infections and deaths in recent days, prompting the Indian government to ban vaccine exports by the Serum Institute, the world’s largest immuniser manufacturer, to focus on domestic vaccination efforts.
Nkengasong regretted the decision announced by New Delhi on Monday to extend the ban on exports of the Anglo-Swedish vaccine, which was initially set only until the end of March, and suggested that Covax – an initiative led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Gavi and CEPI and aimed at distributing vaccines to low-income countries – is seeking alternative manufacturers to AstraZeneca’s production.
The call for rapid use of the vaccines is linked to Malawi’s indication on Wednesday that it would destroy more than 16,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine because they had reached their expiry date, initially set for 13 April (six months) by the Serum institute.
Malawi was one of 13 countries to which the AU distributed a package of 925,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, donated by the African telecommunications company MTN.
Meanwhile, as the Indian regulatory authority in late March extended the vaccines’ shelf life to nine months – until July 13, a decision that is pending approval – WHO’s director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, today recommended at another virtual conference that countries with expired doses “store them in safe places until they can receive a recommendation on their use”.
“Extending the shelf life of a product is not new. Being a new product we still don’t know how stable it will remain, especially speaking we of vaccines, because there are many details to consider,” Moeti said.
AztraZeneca is the main vaccine used in Africa so far, where it has mainly arrived through Covax. The AU confirmed in late March the purchase of 220 million single-dose vaccines from Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, which is scheduled to begin distribution in the third quarter of 2021.
John Nkengasong also called on countries with leftover doses, especially the United States of America, to donate them to the African continent before the virus spreads beyond cities, the current “theatres of war” where it is found, and spreads to more remote areas.
