COVID-19 vaccination roll-out stagnates in Africa, declines by over 50% ― WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) says that COVID-19 vaccination coverage has stagnated in half of the African countries, with the number of doses administered monthly declining by over 50% between July and September.

In its analysis, WHO said that the percentage of people with complete primary vaccination series (one dose for Johnson and Johnson and two doses for other vaccines) has barely budged in 27 out of 54 African countries in the past two months (17 August – 16 October 2022).

In addition, on September, 23 million doses were given, 18% less than the number registered in August, and 51% less than the 47 million doses administered in July. The number of doses provided last month is also about one-third of the peak of the 63 million doses reached in February 2022.

WHO declared, however, that there are signs of improvement this month, with 22 million doses given as of 16 October 2022, representing 95% of the total administered in September. Overall, as of 16 October 2022, just 24% of the continent’s population had completed their primary vaccination series compared with the coverage of 64% at the global level.

According to WHO, other small signs of progress are that the number of countries with less than 10% of people completing their primary series has dropped from 26 in December 2021 to five now.

Despite these achievements, it said at the current pace of vaccination, Africa is expected to meet the global target of 70% of people with complete primary vaccination series by April 2025.

Based on data from 31 countries, by 16 October 2022, 40% of African health workers had completed their primary series. In 15 of these countries, more than 70% of health workers have been fully vaccinated compared with 27% at the beginning of the year.

Thirty-one per cent of older adults (between 50 and 65 years and older depending on country-set age limits) have been fully vaccinated according to data from 27 countries, an increase from 21% in January 2022.

WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti at a virtual press briefing, declared “The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is within sight, but as long as Africa lags far behind the rest of the world in reaching widespread protection, there is a dangerous gap which the virus can exploit to come roaring back.

“The biggest priority is to shield our most vulnerable populations from the worst effects of COVID-19. On this front, we are seeing some progress as countries step up efforts to boost coverage among health workers, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.

“After a bumpy start, the COVAX partnership has assured a steady pipeline of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa. Now, we are a victim of our success. As vaccines have helped bring the number of infections down, people no longer fear COVID-19 and so few are willing to get vaccinated.”