African countries pursue alternative vaccines as India halts exports

In efforts to bolster vaccine campaigns as new variants of coronavirus cause growing concerns amid a halt of vaccine exports by pharmaceutical companies in India, many African countries are now seeking alternative vaccines.

Initially, many African countries relied on AstraZeneca vaccines produced by the Serum Institute in India, the biggest supplier of vaccines to the UN-backed Covax, the global initiative aimed at ensuring equitable access to vaccines.

AstraZeneca was the ultimate choice for many African countries owing to its easier storage compared to its competitors because the doses can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.

While countries were able to administer the first dose of AstraZeneca to a significant percentage of their population, the halt of supply since March has thrown many into confusion on how to achieve the full two-dose regimen requirement to offer maximum protection.

However, both the Africa CDC and individual countries have been encouraging public members not to panic, hopeful that India will lift the export restriction and allow people to receive their second doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.

Meanwhile, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as individual countries, are seeking alternative vaccines to realize the goal of vaccinating a large percentage of the population to achieve herd immunity.

During his weekly virtual press briefing on Thursday, John Nkengasong, the director of the Africa CDC, said the health agency's discussions to acquire Pfizer and Sinopharm vaccines were at an advanced stage.

He said the Africa CDC and the World Health Organization have slated a meeting on Thursday to discuss the Sinopharm vaccines.

Nkengasong expressed hope that the discussion will lead to pronouncement on the emergency use authorization of Sinopharm's coronavirus vaccine.

He said the Africa CDC has already signed a contract with Johnson and Johnson to receive 220 million coronavirus vaccines, with the potential to order an additional 180 million doses.

"Countries should start placing their pre-orders for the Johnson and Johnson vaccines through the African Medical Supplies Platform or amsp.Africa portal," he said.

The Kenyan government has announced that it's pursuing acquisition of 2 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson to supplement the AstraZeneca vaccines.

In a statement published on Wednesday, Mutahi Kagwe, the cabinet secretary for health, said the government would acquire special storage facilities for the Pfizer vaccine, which requires storage at minus 70 degrees.

Kagwe said Kenya has only three sources where it acquires the vaccines - government to government, such as the recent donation of 100,000 doses acquired from the government of India, the Covax facility where the government acquired 1.1 million doses and the African Union.

He said under the AU facility that Kenya is yet to utilize, they have negotiated rates with manufacturers where the country can acquire the vaccines at discounted prices.

Kagwe said under the Covax facility, Africa expected to acquire 75 million doses but so far only 12 million doses have been delivered.

South Africa, which suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines on February after it failed to clearly stop virus variants, signed an agreement early this month to buy 20 million doses of Pfizer coronavirus vaccines to supplement 31 million Johnson and Johnson vaccines that it had already secured.

The country paused use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines on April 13, following reports of extremely rare vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia events in the US.

The pause was, however, lifted on April 17 by the South African Health Products Regulatory Agency under the Sisonke implementation study.

In a statement on April 24, the Africa CDC said the benefits of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine outweigh the risks for people who receive it.

The health agency said it will continue to monitor reports of adverse events following immunization, for all coronavirus vaccines and will provide further guidance to member states.

As of April 19, more than 36.2 million vaccine doses had been acquired by the Africa CDC member states, with approximately 15 million doses having been administered.

The figure corresponds to a coverage of 0.8 percent at the continental level, with 0.34 percent of the population having received a full vaccine regimen, according to the Africa CDC.