Professor Gordon Awandare, Director of WACCBIP
The Director of the West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), Professor Gordon Awandare, has noted that while most African countries and Africans wait for our first doses, others countries are planning for their third.
His comments come after Pfizer, one of the world’s premier biopharmaceutical companies producing vaccines for Covid, said it is seeing waning immunity from its Covid-19 vaccine and plans to develop a booster dose.
Hours after Pfizer issued its statement, America’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) issued a joint statement saying Americans do not need booster shots yet.
“Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time,” they said. say Americans don’t need booster shots yet.
The World Health Organization said, “We don’t know whether booster vaccines will be needed to maintain protection against COVID-19 until additional data is collected,” adding, “limited data available on how long the protection from current doses lasts and whether an additional booster dose would be beneficial and for whom.”
Commenting on this development, Professor Awandare said “This is very interesting but quite ominous for Africa.
“While we wait for our first doses, others are planning for their third.
“What would this mean for global vaccine supplies and would the manufacturers shift to prioritizing those who need third doses and hold the purse?”
This is very interesting but quite ominous for Africa. While we wait for our first doses, others are planning for their third. What would this mean for global vaccine supplies and would the manufacturers shift to prioritizing those who need third doses and hold the purse? https://t.co/sk2vNtiEtA
— Gordon Awandare (@gordon_awandare) July 9, 2021
Meanwhile the World Bank is projecting that 13 million people will receive COVID-19 vaccination in Ghana after it approved a $200 million Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project Second Additional Financing.
In collaboration with the COVAX Facility COVID-19 vaccine acquisition the project will provide financing to support the Government of Ghana to procure and deploy COVID-19 vaccines for 13 million people in Ghana.
The project will also strengthen the resilience of Ghana’s health systems to better prepare for the future pandemic and to secure the continuation of essential health and nutrition services, including routine childhood immunization.
The World Bank is happy to support this second additional financing, given the importance of preventing deaths and reducing transmission of COVID-19 among the population by providing access to COVID-19 vaccines towards accelerating economic and social recovery in Ghana.” said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana.
He added “We are also aware of the continuing difficulties in having access to COVID-19 vaccines and logistics due to the global vaccine market challenges and will continue to work to address the inequity in vaccine supplies that is impacting Ghana and other developing countries.”