Fifteen African Countries Hit 10% Covid-19 Vaccination Goal - WHO

Fifteen African countries - nearly a third of the continent's 54 nations - have fully vaccinated 10% of their people against Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

The global goal of fully vaccinating 10% of every country's population by September 30, 2021 was set in May 2021 by the World Health Assembly, the world's highest health policy-setting body. Almost 90% of high income-countries have met this target.

Seychelles and Mauritius have fully vaccinated over 60% of their populations, Morocco 48% and Tunisia, Comoros and Cape Verde over 20%. Most of the African countries that have met the goal have relatively small populations and 40% are small island developing states.

Nine African countries, including South Africa, Morocco and Tunisia, had reached the 10% goal at the beginning of September 2021 and another six managed to sprint ahead to reach the target this month due to rising vaccine deliveries.

"Despite the declining case numbers we must all remain vigilant and continue to adhere to the proven public health and safety measures that we know save lives, such as wearing a mask, washing our hands regularly and physical distancing, especially while vaccination rates remain low," Dr Richard Mihigo, Immunization and Vaccines Development Programme Coordinator for the WHO Regional Office for Africa said.

As of October 1, confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 55 African countries reached 8,317,500 while over 90,701,869 vaccinations have been administered across the continent.