Africa passes the peak of the pandemic and its access to vaccines is guaranteed

Two young university students wearing masks on their first day after classes resumed at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, on September 1 JOHN WESSELS / AFP

Coronavirus cases have fallen steadily in Africa since late July, when the pandemic reached its peak with 21,000 cases registered in a single day.

Currently that figure is around 8,000.

This inflection in the evolution of the disease keeps this continent in relatively low transmission figures when compared to other parts of the world: 1,270,000 cases and just over 30,000 deaths in six months for a population of 1.3 billion.

"We have done things well, but this is not a celebration of victory, there is still a long way to go," said the director of the Centers for Disease Control (CEC) in Africa, John Nkengasong on Thursday.

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In a telematic press conference, those responsible for managing the pandemic in Africa could not hide their satisfaction with these figures, which are even more significant if the efforts made to increase their diagnostic capacity are taken into account.

Nkengasong has highlighted that in the last week the number of tests had increased by 6% and that the rate of positivity achieved is 9.6%, that is, slightly below the threshold of 10% that the World Organization of the Health (WHO) recommends keeping.

The rapid reaction of African countries at the beginning of the pandemic, the youth of their population and their experience in other public health crises are factors that have had a positive impact.

Despite this, the messages of prudence were not lacking.

"It is a global decline but we cannot lower our guard," said Dr. Richard Mihigo, WHO's Head of Immunization and Vaccine Development in Africa.

In fact, some countries are still on the crest of the curve for new cases, such as Morocco, Ethiopia or Libya, while others, such as Egypt, Ghana or the Ivory Coast, seem to be immersed in rebounds or even a second wave.

South Africa, which breaks all records with half the cases and deaths in the entire continent, remains at less than 3,000 cases a day after having exceeded 13,000 in July.

Another good news is that Africa has already widely exceeded the figure of 12 million tests and, after ensuring that all States have laboratories enabled to carry them out, the challenge now is to decentralize and reach the most remote and rural areas of the countries .

Of course, notable differences remain between one and the other: a quarter of the tests have been done in South Africa, which started with a huge advantage over other nations.

But the African delegation of the WHO is already thinking about the immediate future and what Dr. Mihigo has defined as "one of the largest vaccination campaigns that Africa has ever experienced", in which the experience acquired in the fight against other Diseases, such as poliomyelitis, whose variant from the wild virus was officially eradicated from the continent last week, will be one of its main assets.

In fact, the polio virus vaccination teams will be at the core of the covid-19 campaign.

"It is essential that African countries participate in vaccine trials"

All African countries have shown their interest in participating in Covax, a global initiative that aims to ensure that at least 220 million doses of covid-19 vaccines, once they are authorized and approved, go to the African continent.

Thanks to this fund, in which the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and the WHO participate, low-income countries will have guaranteed supply.

One of the states that is already part of Covax is Equatorial Guinea.

"It is the most effective way to ensure that our people have access to vaccines," said Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba, Minister of Health, on Thursday.

“We are concerned that some richer countries have taken steps to secure their own interests.

We believe that through this initiative we can access successfully proven vaccines in a timely manner and at a lower cost, "he added.

Currently, CEPI, one of Covax's promoters, is leading the research and aims to develop up to three safe and effective vaccines out of a total of nine candidates, which could be operational by early 2021, said Mihigo.

"It is essential that African countries participate in vaccine trials," added Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, "so they can be implemented with confidence once approved."

Health workers and the vulnerable population will be a priority.

Information about the coronavirus

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- Download the tracking application for Spain

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- Guide to action against the disease