WHO Disqualifies Nigeria, Eight Others From Global Vaccine Bid
The World Health Organisation led COVAX global initiative has failed to shortlist Nigeria for the Pfizer vaccines following the country’s inability to meet the standard requirement of being able to store the vaccines at the required -70 degrees Celsius. Speaking at a virtual conference, the Director, WHO, African Region, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said only four African countries were shortlisted for the pfizer vaccine out of the 13 that applied. Moeti said WHO could not risk the Pfizer vaccines being wasted. She said, “Around 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been allocated to four African countries, Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia. This vaccine has received WHO Emergency Use Listing but requires countries to be able to store and distribute doses at minus 70 degrees Celsius. The Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research had said that there is not enough space at the moment to store the Pfizer vaccines at that temperature.
Nigeria was expected to be on the list of African countries to receive the first set of Pfizer vaccines because of its rate of infection which is now the sixth highest on the continent. Only South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia have higher infection rates than Nigeria. But Morocco and Egypt have already independently obtained vaccines and begun distribution while South Africa, which has the highest burden of the disease in Africa, has already procured one million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, produced in India but has yet to begin distribution. Nigeria has, however, received no COVID-19 vaccine even as its rate of infection has continued to surge. However, the WHO regional director said countries that failed to make the Pfizer list could get the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine later in the month although it has not yet been endorsed by the health organisation. The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine does not need to be stored in a cold facility.
To complement COVAX efforts, the African Union has secured 670 million vaccine doses for the continent which will be distributed in 2021 and 2022 as countries secure adequate financing. The African Export-Import Bank will facilitate payments by providing advance procurement commitment guarantees of up to $2bn to the manufacturers on behalf of countries. Since the AU will distribute vaccines based on population, Nigeria is expected to receive the highest shipment. However, no date has been announced for the distribution.
