UNICEF inks deal to supply 220 million COVID vaccine doses to Africa.
United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) signed an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals NV to supply 220 million doses of Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine against COVID-19 to all 55 member states of the African Union (AU) announced to do. by the end of 2022.
In a statement on Thursday, Xinhua news agency quoted UNICEF as saying that about 35 million doses are to be distributed by the end of 2021.
The agreement between UNICEF and Jensen will help implement the advance procurement commitment signed between the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and Jensen in March 2021.
The UN agency said that agreement secured the option to order 180 million doses by the end of 2022, bringing the total reach to 400 million doses maxed out.
AU established AVAT in November 2020 to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the African continent, with a target to vaccinate 60 percent of its population.
UNICEF will procure and distribute the Covid-19 vaccines on behalf of the AVAT initiative.
Other partners include the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Bank.
“African countries should have affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible. Vaccine access has been unequal and unfair, with less than 1 percent of the African continent’s population currently vaccinated against COVID-19. It continues UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.
“Vaccinating the world against COVID-19, as the virus continues to spread and mutate, is one of the largest and most complex collective health undertakings the world has ever undertaken, and we need all hands on deck,” Four said.
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