Africa CDC opens Covid vaccines pre-order programme

Addis Ababa, Jan 22 : The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), has announced the commencement of Covid-19 vaccines pre-order program for all African Union (AU) members.
The move by the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), on behalf of the Africa CDC, came a week after the announcement by the South African President and African Union (AU) Chairperson, President Cyril Ramaphosa, on January 14 that the AU has secured a provisional 270 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for Africa through its Covid-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), Xinhua reported.
“The AMSP, on behalf of the Africa CDC, today commenced the Covid-19 vaccines pre-order programme for all AU members,” an Africa CDC statement read.
The African Export-Import Bank (AfreximBank) will facilitate payments by providing advance procurement commitment guarantees of up to $2 billion to the manufacturers on behalf of the members.
According to the Africa CDC, the initiative offers an equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines doses for the 55 AU members.
“These are historical times. For the first time in history, Africa has secured access to millions of vaccine doses in the middle of a pandemic as most of Western countries,” the statement quoted the AU Special Envoy, Strive Masiyiwa, as saying.