Coronavirus vaccine to be available in Africa in 2021
The COVID-19 vaccines may likely be available to African countries by the end of 2021.
This is due to the cost, transportation and storage requirement of the vaccine.
Three vaccines - Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik and Moderna - have already reported good preliminary data from phase three trials, with one suggesting 94% of over-65s could be protected from Covid-19.
In an interview on BBC Focus on Africa, the Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, William John Moss, explained that aside the vaccines requiring cold temperatures for storage, low income countries in Africa were likely to have a challenge in purchasing the vaccines.
He explained further that, low income African countries would be able to acquire the vaccines through an initiative called the Covax facility, which would require some cost sharing.
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