Vaccines against covid-19 administered in Africa rose 74% in June from the previous month, after a sustained three-month decline between March and May, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday.
The increase was due to mass vaccination campaigns in 16 countries and placed six nations above the critical benchmark of having more than 10% of their total population with the full series of primary doses, the WHO said in a statement.
The progress has reduced the number of countries in the less than 10% category from 14 to eight, the agency said, noting that Tanzania and South Sudan were among the countries that stepped up vaccination campaigns in June.
Until July 10, 282 million people on the continent had completed their primary gradesrepresenting 21.1% of the African population and a 10% increase in doses administered since the beginning of the year.
In addition, more than 892 million vaccines have been delivered in Africa, 64% of which come from the COVAX mechanism, led by the WHO, among other organizations.
This increase in vaccine coverage shows that African countries remain committed to vaccination against Covid-19,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
“This is encouraging because vaccination remains the most effective instrument in our response to Covid-19 on the continent,” added Moeti.
Several countries that activated their inoculation responses in 2021 have made notable progress in expanding coverage of primary grades in the last six months, including Ethiopia, which went from 3.5% to 33%, Côte d’Ivoire (from 9 % to 25.8%), Zambia (from 3.5% to 25.2%), and Uganda (from 4.4% to 25.5%).
To date, around 11.9 million cases of Covid-19 have been reported on the continent, of which around 255,000 have resulted in deaths, according to the latest figures released by the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Diseases (CDC Africa) of the African Union. (AU).
Source: Observadora
