French President Emmanuel Macron has a meeting with NGO representatives before attending the G7 summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on June 9, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/Pool
- The jab will be distributed and distributed through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and Covax.
- President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that enough vaccines have now been purchased through AVAT to vaccinate 400 million people in Africa.
- The WHO said on Monday that the Republic of Congo has received more than 300,000 doses of vaccine from the United States.
French President Macron’s office announced on Monday that France will provide Africa with 10 million doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines in the next three months.
It said that these jabs “will be distributed and distributed within the framework of the (African Union) African Vaccine Procurement Trust Fund (AVAT) and Covax”, which is a partnership for the fair launch of vaccines.
“The (Covid-19) pandemic can only be overcome through close cooperation,” Macron said in a statement, emphasizing our “strong partnership” with the African Union.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (Cyril Ramaphosa), together with Macron, strongly criticized the unequal access to vaccines, praising this announcement as “the strong and welcome human unity and political cooperation at the time when the world needs it most.” attitude”.
AVAT is a way to enable AU members to buy vaccines in groups to help them meet at least 50% of their needs. Covax aims to help countries make up for shortages through donations.
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A statement from Macron’s office said that enough vaccines have now been purchased through AVAT to vaccinate 400 million people in Africa (one-third of the population of the African continent) by September 2022, at a cost of US$3 billion.
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the Republic of Congo has received more than 300,000 doses of vaccine from the United States, which is the first dose under the Covax program.
The African branch of the agency said on Twitter that the donation amount was 302,400 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine.
Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, to distinguish it from its larger neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo, started using China’s Sinopharm Group and Russian satellites for vaccination in April.
However, the use rate of these vaccines is very low, and there is widespread hesitation or suspicion about vaccines. As of mid-August, less than 2% of the eligible population in Congo had been vaccinated.
On August 15, President Denis Sassou Nguesso issued a call for the public to be vaccinated, stating that mass immunization was the “only safe way” to fight the pandemic.
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