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Wealthy countries must give more Covid vaccines to meet 200 million dose gap, says WHO

Warning of ‘failure’ comes as vaccine shipments grind to near halt in Africa

Adam Forrest
Friday 04 June 2021 14:30 BST
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<p>South Sudan has started vaccinating its population thanks to doses provided by Covax</p>

South Sudan has started vaccinating its population thanks to doses provided by Covax

The scheme aimed at getting more coronavirus vaccines to the world’s poorest countries is facing a gap of 200 million doses, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Wealthy nations must urgently give more to the Covax scheme to help cover a gap caused by manufacturing delays and supply disruptions, a WHO senior adviser has said.

The countries involved have so far donated 150 million surplus doses to the Covax scheme in a bid to slow the pace of Covid-19 infections in the global pandemic.

However, the WHO’s Bruce Aylward said only a small portion of those doses will be available in the short-term in June, July and August when they can make the most difference.

“We don’t have enough confirmed doses ... to get the world on track to get out of this.” Mr Aylward told a press briefing on Friday. “We are setting up for failure if we don’t get early doses.”

A US plan to quickly share Covid vaccine doses with poorer countries is an “important start” but more shots are urgently needed to cover a gap caused by disruptions to supply in India, he added.

“We are seeing great commitment, the challenge is bringing those commitments forward so that June, July, August we get vaccines into folks,” said Mr Aylward – referring to a US plan to quickly share 25 million doses.

Vaccine shipments have ground to “a near halt” in Africa, while coronavirus cases have spiked 20 per cent over the last two weeks, according to WHO officials.

South Africa alone had a more than 60 per cent rise in new cases last week, as the country with the highest coronavirus caseload in Africa continued to face delays in its effort to roll out the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

More than one million J&J doses remain on hold at a pharmaceuticals plant in South Africa because of contamination concerns at a US factory.

The head of the Africa CDC said he expects an announcement from the US Food and Drug Administration on those contamination issues soon.

Vietnamese health ministry official checks delivery

Meanwhile, Denmark said it will donate 358,700 unused vaccine doses to Kenya, saying the batch of AstraZeneca that expires on 31 July should be delivered as soon as possible.

It is part of the three million doses that Denmark has earmarked for donation this year.

“No one is safe until everyone is safe,” Denmark’s foreign aid minister Flemming Moeller Mortensen said in a statement. “Kenya is in a difficult situation as they have received far fewer vaccines than they should have had.”

A growing number of countries are looking at “mixing and matching” different Covid vaccines for second doses or booster shots amid ongoing supply delays that have slowed their vaccination campaigns.

Additional reporting by agencies

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