France has donated 184,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to Senegal through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility to help the country in its vaccination efforts against the virus.
A statement released by the World Health Organization’s COVAX program revealed that the donation represents the second batch of Covid-19 vaccines Senegal has received through the scheme after an initial 324,000 AstraZeneca doses arrived in March.
Although about 456,000 people in Senegal have been vaccinated most of the country’s 16 million citizens have yet to receive the first dose. and the arrival of the latest batch proves to be a timely solution to solving that equation as Senegal’s supply of vaccines is running low as thousands of people are due for their second jabs.
The COVAX initiative has done a lot to help deal with Covid in Africa and has recently secured US$2.4 billion towards the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation the world has ever seen.
France’s donation to Senegal serves as a symbol of pledges from several large economies to increase their commitment and contributions to COVAX, which is backed by the WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).
