Challenges Of Logistics Affect COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns In Parts Of Africa

As the drive to curb the spread of COVID-19 disease continues through vaccination campaigns globally, the exercise suffers setback in some parts of Africa due to logistical challenges, says the director of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong.

Nkengasong who made this known through a virtual news conference on Thursday, said only 6.6 per cent of Africa’s population of 1.2 billion was so far fully vaccinated.

He remarked that the current situation means the continent was far from reaching the African Union’s target of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the population by the end of year 2022.

The ACDC director who is a Cameroonian virologist specifically stated that the Democratic Republic of Congo has the challenge of logistics.

“What we are seeing now is a lot more vaccines coming in and the uptake is challenged because of the logistics and delivery.

“It’s not necessarily about hesitancy, it’s about moving vaccines from the airport to the people; it’s about logistics,” Nkengasong stated.

According to Reuters, Namibia and South Africa were faced with logistical challenges around the distribution of the vaccines in their stores. It reported that Namibia on Thursday warned that more than 268,000 doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines were at risk of being destroyed, very soon due to “slow uptake.”

South Africa on Wednesday reportedly asked COVID-19 vaccines manufacturers, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer  defer delivery, for now, stating that it had too much in stuck and there was poor engagement for inoculation by the citizens.