Covid-19 Africa: What is happening with vaccines?

There are growing concerns that shortages in many African countries are holding back the rollout of urgently needed second doses of the Covid vaccine.

The United Nations and the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) are urging countries with surplus supplies to donate them to regions of Africa where they're needed. 

What is happening with second doses?

Many African countries had followed previous advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) to administer as many first doses as possible and not stockpile vaccines for the second dose.

It had said in early May that providing a first dose to as many people as possible was the highest priority.

Some countries have also been under pressure to use vaccines urgently or risk exceeding their expiry dates.

These factors have contributed to a major shortage of doses for the second jab, principally of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Kenya and Ghana extended the period between the first and second jabs from eight to 12 weeks in order to relieve the pressure, but along with other countries on the continent, have found it difficult to secure supplies to complete the vaccination process.

Most African countries have been receiving the vaccine doses under the Covax scheme, and these had largely been sourced from the Serum Institute of India,

However, India has halted vaccine exports in response to its own urgent needs.

The Covax programme - backed by the WHO and other multilateral bodies - aims to supply 600 million doses to Africa, enough to vaccinate at least 20% of the population.

The WHO says Africa needs 200 million doses of vaccines to vaccinate 10% of its population by September.

"As supplies dry up, dose-sharing is an urgent, critical and short-term solution to ensuring that Africans at the greatest risk of Covid-19 get the much-needed protection," says WHO's Matshidiso Moeti.

How has the vaccine rollout progressed in Africa?

Globally, 24 doses of the vaccine have been administered per 100 people, but in Africa it's about 2 doses per 100 people.

Deliveries of vaccine supplies under the WHO-backed Covax programme started in February, and most countries in Africa signed up and received vaccine doses.

Some countries are also getting donations from China, Russia, India and the UAE. 

Only Tanzania, Burundi, Chad and Eritrea are yet to receive vaccines.

Some countries have already exhausted the initial vaccine supplies they received from the Covax scheme, but others have had a slow uptake.

The slow rate of vaccination is caused partly by issues around distributing the vaccines, such as the lack of health infrastructure and staff.

But there are fears vaccine hesitancy and scepticism could be playing a role.

"While we call for vaccine equity, Africa must also knuckle down and make the best of what we have," said Matshidiso Moeti, regional director for WHO in Africa.

What about vaccine safety concerns?

Health authorities in the UK and in Europe have been looking into unusual blood clots which have appeared in a handful of people given the AstraZeneca jab.

The WHO has advised African nations to continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.What's happened to vaccinations in South Africa?

South Africa, the country on the continent hit hardest by coronavirus, has been slow to administer Covid-19 vaccines.

The government says this was caused by factors out of its control. It delayed an initial vaccination plan using the AstraZeneca vaccine due to concerns about its efficacy against a new variant of coronavirus.

It sold on the vaccine doses it had bought from India to the African Union, which distributed the doses elsewhere.

It started vaccinating on 17 February after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is administered as a single dose and has been shown to be effective against the variant.

A few African nations had put the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine on hold as a precaution. However, the WHO told the BBC that eventually only Chad and Zimbabwe declined to use it.

But the programme was put on hold in mid-April because of concerns about rare blood clot cases in the US. Vaccinations resumed in late April.

It started vaccinating using the Pfizer vaccine in mid-May.

So far, a million people have been vaccinated in South Africa - about half of them with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which requires a single-dose and the rest with the Pfizer vaccine.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

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