Johannesburg, Oct. 26 (BNA) Moderna said on Tuesday that it will supply the African Union with up to 110 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, and the first 15 million doses are expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
The US company said in a statement that the doses were “offered at the lowest tiered price, in line with global access commitments.”
The German news agency (dpa) said that the African Union is buying coronavirus vaccines from various manufacturers to boost vaccination campaigns in member states.
The African Union’s envoy on coronavirus, Strive Masiyiwa, welcomed Moderna’s announcement.
Maseiwa said that the African Union has so far distributed 17 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, and another 35.2 million doses will be delivered in the next three weeks.
Only about 5 percent of Africa’s 1.3 billion people have been fully vaccinated. To reach 60 percent, it is estimated that about 1.6 billion doses are needed.
According to the Africa CDC, just under 8.6 million cases of Covid-19 have been documented in Africa so far, of which less than 217,000 are fatal.
However, according to experts, the true number of cases and deaths could be much higher due to lower testing rates.
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