Virus, Vaccine And Viability

Understanding the successful storage, supply chain and distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine and what Africa needs to do to get it right.

- Simone Sribrath

THERE WAS PERSONAL DILIGENCE IN conducting the research for this story, as this writer too tested positive for Covid-19 at the end of December, in South Africa, a country that recorded a million coronavirus infections that same week.

Following the story and the world’s quest for an effective cure, this article now focuses on the concomitant issue of vaccine distribution across Africa even as the continent grapples with a deadly second wave of the pandemic.

Different countries have taken different approaches to securing their supply of vaccines. In North Africa, for example, Morocco has secured over 65 million doses, some of which has come from China’s Sinopharm and Britain’s AstraZeneca and Oxford supplies. The country aims to have at least 80% of its population vaccinated with this supply.

South Africa, having joined the COVAX coalition, has secured 20 million doses thus far. The country’s government is using a phased approach with healthcare workers being the first to receive the vaccine, and the continent’s second-largest economy aims to have 60% of the overall population vaccinated to initiate herd immunity.

Other countries look to their alliances with China and Russia to provide vaccine doses. While countries have had to ensure the security of their supply first, other issues around the vaccine are also to be considered which in turn plays a deciding role in the type of Covid-19 vaccine a country needs.