Towards Vaccine Equity: Youth Access To Covid-19 Vaccine In Africa

As COVID-19 infections continue to rise globally, so does the need for vaccines. Despite the need to be vaccinated, Africa is falling behind in the global vaccination drive with only 3% of the continent’s population being fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a press release from the African Union.

These statistics then beg the question of how many youths in Africa have access to the vaccine. Overall, 48.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In developed nations such as the United States have 56.73% fully vaccinated and 8.88% partly vaccinated, the United Kingdom 66.83% fully vaccinated and 6.11% partially vaccinated and leading the ranks, the United Arab Emirates with 86.12% fully vaccinated and 10.10% partially vaccinate. 

The virus has extremely exploited the existing inequalities of those already living in poverty. African countries are not only being pushed to the back of the line in the vaccine queue but are also being overcharged for every dose they manage to procure. South Africa, the worst-hit country in Africa, is paying more than double the European Union price for the Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine. The resultant move by some governments in Africa, such as the Kenyan government to enlist private sectors as providers of the vaccines is concerning. 

The primary objective of these sectors is financial gain as they have no charge limit on the doses, which means that access to the much-needed COVID-19 vaccine is only available to those who can afford to pay, leaving many who are poorly vulnerable to the deadly disease.

The access to the COVID-19 vaccine to the youth is questionable because the statistics show that Africa has not rolled out enough vaccines for each category of people. The literature available and records of COVID-19 vaccination availability prove that the bigger issue is not access for the Youth but the continent population entirely. Unfortunately, the youth will be disregarded until the continent has access to more vaccines. Therefore, to avoid this from happening different stakeholders need to reach out to more young people. 

This is the type of initiative that should be driven forward. In addition, more investigation should be carried out to uncover what percentage of youth currently have access to the vaccine and what portion of oncoming vaccine importation can be allocated to them. 

Moreover, the need for the circulation of factual information can be noted from the suggestion that myths around the vaccine are holding back some young people from fully trusting the vaccine. Fear that the vaccines cause infertility or serious side effects has circulated on social media platforms which amplified the resistance to the vaccine for many young people.

There has also been the misconception that COVID-19 does not affect young people, this is concerning because young people may be asymptomatic transmitters which poses a bigger threat to their communities. This goes to show that it is important for Youth to be educated on the realities of COVID-19 and its Vaccines.

In August 2021, ONE, UNICEF, and African Union joined forces with TikTok to strengthen vaccine confidence in Africa. This was done to counter the misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines on social media.

Furthermore, the initiative was pushed through the hashtag #MythorVax in hopes of dispelling myths and correcting inaccurate information. Additionally, the #MythofVax is using the continent's biggest music and entertainment acts on TikTok by having them speak with health experts to dispel the myths. Artists include the likes of Sauti Sol (Kenya), Yemi Alade (Nigeria), Maps and Pearl Thusi (South Africa), and others. As vaccines become more accessible and the communication campaigns continue to increase there is a notable change in the hesitancy to be vaccinated. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) is at the center of Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout as they believe that vaccines are a crucial tool to end the pandemic, save lives and livelihood. Therefore, they wish to achieve equitable access to safe and effective vaccines in Africa. In addition, 47 African countries have joined the COVAX facility, a partnership with WHO, UNICEF, CEPI, GAVI, and others, their end goal being to ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 Vaccines.

For Africa in particular the goal is to vaccinate at least 20% of the population which would allow up to 600 million doses by the end of 2021. The first 90 million doses will immunize 3% of the African population who are most in need of protection, this includes, health workers and other vulnerable groups. However, this target was to be met by the first half of 2021, meaning that Africa is falling behind.

The UNICEF campaign on #DonateDosesNow as part of the “Vaccine equity in Africa” call to action, called on G20 leaders to honor their promises and deliver doses. In a moving video by UNICEF titled “Dear G20 leader: Vaccine equity is a must for Africa”. They highlight the inequality of vaccine accessibility by mentioning that “The world has billions of vaccines but less than 5% of Africa have been vaccinated”. They go on to call out  World leaders to keep their promises “to end the pandemic everywhere now. #DonateDoesNow”

Furthermore, the video calls attention to the beacon of hope the vaccine symbolized when it initially began rolling out, a step closer to ending the pandemic.

This is a powerful statement that further reiterates that the fight against COVID-19 can not be achieved single-handedly. We must all come together to ensure we eradicate the common enemy.

Various artists and public figures such as Davido (Nigeria), Teacher Wanjiku (Kenya, were involved as signatories in the open letter to leaders involved which can be found here. In addition we have Nelson Kwaje (South Sudan) Program Director for #DefyHateNow is a community organization with branches in Cameroon, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia. Kwaje helped initiate #211CHECK a collective working in the digital community to fight misinformation and raise awareness on COVID-19 prevention and protection.

Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), which is a global health partnership of public and private sector organizations dedicated to “immunization for all” had a virtual introductory meeting with The Youth Café. The meeting involved discussion on increased engagement and collaboration with Civil Society Organizations(CSOs) in the African continent engaged in Covid-19 advocacy at the regional and continental levels. 

GAVI’s strategy supports its mission to save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunization in poor countries, as shown in their impact in Africa. It contributes to achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by focusing on performance, outcomes, and results. Its partners provide funding for vaccines and intellectual resources for care advancement. They contribute, also, to strengthening the capacity of the health system to deliver immunization and other health services sustainably.

The GAVI COVAX AMC Summit “One World Protected” virtual event, hosted on June 2nd, 2021 by the Government of Japan and GAVI, raised US$ 2.4 billion from about 40 donor governments, private sectors, and foundations, which exceeded the funding target bringing the total pledged amount to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment(AMC) US$ 9.6 billion to date. The funds raised will help GAVI secure 1.8 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines for lower-income countries participating in COVAX facilities come early 2022.

Together with the financial pledges, first dose-sharing donations were announced by Belgium, Denmark, and Japan, as well as additional pledges from Spain and Sweden, boosting short-term supplies by over 54 million vaccine doses.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has stepped up to support African Union countries with EUR 300 million financing to access vaccines via the COVAX cost-sharing scheme – leveraging domestic resources to procure safe and efficacious vaccines through COVAX. 

This EIB EUR 300 million financing announcement is the path forward towards a collective commitment of US$ 1 billion from multilateral development banks and international financing institutions to support a cost-sharing initiative enabling AMC-eligible economies to use domestic resources to purchase additional vaccines through COVAX. This will facilitate them to take advantage of COVAX’s global logistics system, globally negotiated volume and prices, and other critical benefits such as the COVAX No-Fault Compensation Scheme Programme.

The pledges, commitments, and support from the global community at the Summit will enable COVAX to continue working towards keeping everyone safe.

In more recent news it is reported that Africa will benefit from 110 million doses of Moderna Inc COVID-19 Vaccine as it is the least vaccinated continent. This comes after the AU’s continued negotiations to gain more access to the Vaccine with the United States. AU coronavirus envoy, Strive Masiyiwa “urge(s) other vaccine producing countries to follow the lead of the (US government) and give us similar access to buy this and other vaccines”. 

For more information on the number of administered coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine doses per 100 people in Africa as of October 23, 2021, by country click here.

The Youth Café works with young men and women around Africa as a trailblazer in advancing youth-led approaches toward achieving sustainable development, social equity, innovative solutions, community resilience and transformative change.

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