Kagame hails Covax framework as more African countries receive vaccines
Wednesday, March 03, 2021

President Paul Kagame on Wednesday, March 3, commended efforts by the COVAX framework to avail Covid-19 vaccines to African countries.

COVAX is the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of their income level.

So far, eight African countries—Rwanda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and the Gambia—have received vaccines under the framework.

Being the latest to get doses under COVAX, Rwanda on Wednesday received 240,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.

In a tweet, Kagame said that receiving Covid-19 vaccine doses is good news.

The COVAX Facility is on track to deliver at least two billion doses of vaccines by the end of this year, including at least 1.3 billion doses to 92 low-income countries.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the effectiveness of the facility has been tampered with "deals between some high-income countries and manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines, which reduce the number of doses it can purchase to developing countries.

On this note, Kagame recently stressed the need for African countries to speak with one voice with regards to equity in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.