Africa's Covid-19 Vaccine Delivery 'Leaves Much to be Desired'

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has added his voice to the calls made by Rwanda President Paul Kagame and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, urging developed nations to rapidly ramp up supplies of novel coronavirus vaccines to Africa and the developing world, saying the current rate of delivery "leaves much to be desired". He was speaking on day one of the three-day Paris Peace Forum.

Citing statistics showing that so far only a fraction of Africa's population had received a vaccination against Covid-19, Buhari said "a massive gap" between vaccine requirements in Africa and vaccine availability was undermining the fight against the pandemic.

His comments came after the World Health Organization in September 2021 said that even the doses delivered by the Covax alliance, set up to ensure equitable delivery of jabs, would be hit this year by a major shortfall in supplies to Africa. "This is a major setback for Africa," Buhari warned.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris echoed this desire to address inequality on a global scale. She told French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders attending the Paris Peace Forum that inequality gaps had narrowed and widened during human history but "throughout this pandemic the gaps have undoubtedly become larger".

As of November 15, 2021, a total of 8,559,421 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed across the continent of which 220,666 proved fatal and 7,955,592 resulted in recovery while 128,042,281 vaccinations have been administered.