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COVID-19 Updates » World Bank, AU to Deploy Vaccines for 400m Africans

World Bank, AU to Deploy Vaccines for 400m Africans


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June 15, 2021 at 12:00 PM

The World Bank and the African Union (AU)’s COVID-19 Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) have announced a decision to work together to deploy vaccines for 400 million Africans.

The pledge came after the president of the World Bank, David Malpass, met with the AVATT to discuss ways to accelerate vaccine deployment to Africa, according to a joint statement by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The AVATT had previously secured up to 400 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine with the support of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

The bank and the AVATT stressed the importance that countries get sufficient doses as quickly as possible and in an affordable way, according to the statement.

COVID-19 vaccines were critical for achieving the goal of vaccinating at least 60 per cent of Africans, said John Nkengasong, the director of the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and member of the AVATT.

Benedict Oramah, the president of Afreximbank, said his bank, by providing a 2 billion dollar guarantee on behalf of the AU member states, was able to help put Africa in a negotiating position with producers in negotiating vaccine procurement.

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