According to the World Health Organization (WHO), everyone worldwide who could benefit from a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine should have access to it as quickly as possible, starting with those at highest risk of serious disease or death. Through the COVAX program, two billion doses are expected to be delivered in 190 countries in less than a year, to ensure 92 poorer countries will receive access to vaccines at the same time as 98 wealthier countries.
A free and accessible platform, Our World in Data (owid), provides the latest available data from countries on global COVID-19 vaccinations. At the end of March, 2021, more than 564 million vaccine doses have been distributed worldwide. In Africa about 6.6 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, equal to 0.5 doses for every 100 people.
COVID-19 Vaccines Administered by Country
Vaccinations by country |
||
|---|---|---|
| location | Doses administered | Doses administered per 100 people |
| Seychelles | 100552 | 102.25 |
| Morocco | 7882300 | 21.36 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | 9724 | 4.44 |
| Rwanda | 348926 | 2.69 |
| Senegal | 247750 | 1.48 |
| Ghana | 420000 | 1.35 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 12155 | 0.87 |
| Malawi | 123097 | 0.64 |
| Togo | 42092 | 0.51 |
| Zimbabwe | 69751 | 0.47 |
| Tunisia | 53089 | 0.45 |
| South Africa | 251707 | 0.42 |
| Cape Verde | 2184 | 0.39 |
| Mauritius | 3843 | 0.30 |
| Angola | 87022 | 0.26 |
| Guinea | 34178 | 0.26 |
| Gambia | 5345 | 0.22 |
| Algeria | 75000 | 0.17 |
| Kenya | 90340 | 0.17 |
| Mozambique | 46439 | 0.15 |
| Uganda | 69701 | 0.15 |
| Cote d'Ivoire | 37367 | 0.14 |
| Nigeria | 277458 | 0.13 |
| Sierra Leone | 10673 | 0.13 |
| Namibia | 152 | 0.01 |
| Egypt | 1315 | 0.00 |
Ghana was the first country in Africa to receive consignment of covid-19 vaccine through COVAX facility in February, 2021. So far, 26 countries have already started vaccinating high risk populations as of end of March, 2021 using COVAX funded vaccines and other vaccines received through bilateral deals or donations. Currently, six vaccines (Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinopharm-Beijing, Gamaleya (Sputnik V), and Johnson&Johnson) are being used on the continent.
As of March, 2021, Seychelle; Morocco; São Tomé & Príncipe; Rwanda and Ghana had been vaccinating their population faster than any other african countries, with 24,415; 5,663; 3,755; 1,919 and 1,114 doses administered for every 1,000,000 people respectively. Countries’ health-care systems have been consistently identified as determining factors in controlling pandemics(AMA, 2020). A country, like Rwanda, has benefited from its experience on the vaccine deployment program to immediately roll out COVID-19 vaccines across all districts.
