COVID-19: World Bank, AU partner to support vaccination for 400m Africans

The World Bank Group and the African Union (AU) have entered into a partnership to support the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) initiative, to vaccinate up to 400 million people across Africa.

A statement released by the bank in Washington DC on Monday said the duo would support with resources to enable countries to purchase and deploy the vaccines.

According to the statement, African finance ministers and the bank met on Monday to speed up the procurement of vaccines on the continent, to avoid the third wave.

He said the extraordinary regional effort complements COVAX and comes at a time when COVID -19 cases are increasing in the region.

According to the press release, World Bank funding is available to support the purchase and deployment of doses secured by AVATT.

“The World Bank has $ 12 billion in vaccine financing to help countries purchase and distribute vaccines and address preparedness issues.

“The bank has already approved operations to support vaccine deployment in 36 countries and by the end of June, it plans to support vaccination efforts in 50 countries, two-thirds of which are in Africa.

“The bank has also established strong partnerships with regional institutions such as the African Center for Disease Control (CDC), the West African Health Organization and the AU Commission, to strengthen cross-border collaboration on disease surveillance, preparedness and response, ”he said.

He added that World Bank-funded COVID-19 vaccination operations allow countries to purchase vaccines through COVAX, through regional initiatives and bilateral purchases from manufacturers.

“As such, the bank worked closely with AVATT to see that African countries could also use the bank’s funding to purchase doses of COVID-19 through the AVATT initiative.

“The objective of AVATT, an initiative of the AUC, Africa CDC, African Import and Export Bank (Afreximbank), AU Special Envoys for COVID-19 and the Economic Commission of the United Nations for Africa (ECA), is to provide the continent with sufficient resources and rapid access to COVID-19 vaccines. “

He said he had already successfully negotiated 220 million doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson and Johnson for use by African countries, with an option for another 180 million, depending on demand.

The statement also said that AVATT is working and coordinating closely with African finance ministers in efforts to achieve collective immunity, for the full reopening of the continent’s economies.

David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, said the bank is happy to support African countries through the partnership with the AU, to rapidly deliver hundreds of millions of doses.

“By working together, we can accelerate doses to countries and support deployment.

“Countries urgently need more channels to acquire vaccines that match their needs and have early delivery schedules,” he said.

Strive Masiyiwa, AU special envoy and AVATT coordinator said that with the joint initiative between institutions, Africa now has the capacity to immunize at least 400 million people or 30% of its population.

Vera Songwe, the executive secretary of ECA, said that a key priority of the initiative was to ensure that the purchase of vaccines resulted in the vaccination of people.

According to the statement, World Bank funding and technical assistance to countries are available to help countries deploy vaccines effectively.

“This includes expanding storage and building the cold chain, developing monitoring systems to make sure vaccines reach people, training health workers and supporting citizen engagement and of the community, to fight against reluctance to take vaccines.

“Beyond the current emergency, building resilient health systems in Africa that could respond to future pandemics would be key,” the statement said.

He said that in addition, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the bank, was leading a consortium to support regional vaccine production in Africa.

“Work on investments in South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda are at an advanced stage,” the statement said. (NAN)