United States-drug maker Johnson & Johnson, which is supplying South Africa with its coronavirus vaccines for its vaccination programme, has agreed to supply some 400 million doses to the African Union starting in October this year, APA learnt on Monday.
The drug maker said it entered into a deal with the AU’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) following three months of negotiations to deliver 220 million doses of its single-dose shot this year — and the remainder of the 400 vaccines in 2022.
According to AVAT, the majority of the AU’s 55 member-states preferred the Johnson & Johnson’s single dosage vaccine which is ably stored at ordinary refrigerator temperature.
Other Covid-19 vaccine brands available on the market demand below freezing or very low temperatures to keep them in effective storage and a two-dosage treatment to complete the treatment – a very demanding development for Africa’s remote areas which mainly lack electricity.
AU’s acquisition of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines is expected to help the continent reach its target of vaccinating at least 750 million people, or 60 percent of the population, as part of efforts to contain the spread of the deadly virus that has killed over 120,000 Africans from over four million infections in the continent.
Africa is far behind wealthy nations in its vaccination rollout, which only started much later than European and American states, noted a senior media official from the AU.
“We need to immunise at least 60 percent of our population to get rid of the virus on our continent. The J&J agreement enables us to move towards achieving this target,” John Nkengasong, director of the AU’s Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
Most of the Johnson & Johnson supplies to be sold to the AU will be produced by Aspen Pharma in South Africa which President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy David Mabuza visited on Monday to assess the progress being made in making the drugs for South Africa and the AU itself, Avat said.
South Africa, which suspended the use of its AstraZeneca vaccine on its people, is currently using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to its efficacy on the country’s mutant variant, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
NM/jn/APA