Corona vaccinations in Africa: In South Sudan and Malawi, vaccination doses have to be thrown away

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The first doses of vaccine were received in Malawi under strict security precautions.

Thousands of cans now have to be disposed of.

Photo: Thoko Chikondi / AP

Hope arrived in Kinshasa on March 3rd.

Packed in tied boxes, rolled out of the belly of a cargo plane.

It was one of the first deliveries of corona vaccination doses to Africa, accompanied by photographers and press releases.

"These vaccinations will enable us to save lives," the Congo Minister of Health was quoted as saying.

Similar scenes were repeated shortly afterwards in numerous other African countries, and the Covax initiative finally seemed to be taking off.

It is intended to give poorer countries access to the long-awaited vaccines.

Seven weeks have passed since then.

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo only officially opened the vaccination campaign on Monday.

Not a single syringe had been given before.

This is mainly due to the weeks of back and forth about the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe.

Because, as in most African countries, cans from this manufacturer arrived in the capital Kinshasa.

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The arrival of the first vaccine doses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was celebrated with great media coverage

Photo: UNICEF / UN0424984 / Desjardins

The reporting of rare cases of blood clots has also shaken confidence in the vaccine in Africa.

The Congo then put the vaccination campaign on hold, and the hopeful messages at the beginning of March turned into weeks of waiting.

Now it should finally start, a national task force has meanwhile certified the AstraZeneca vaccine harmless.

But another problem is looming: the first vaccine doses will expire at the end of June.

"It's a race against time," says Freddy Nkosi, who is in charge of the vaccination campaign in the Congo for the VillageReach organization.

On the one hand, the vaccine now has to be brought to the remote regions of the country.

On the other hand, an even greater challenge awaits: the vaccine skeptics.

"The debate about AstraZeneca played into their hands," says Nkosi.

"There are numerous conspiracy narratives and misunderstandings, especially on social media." The country is now running awareness-raising campaigns in the villages to ensure that the vaccinations can actually be injected before the expiry date.

The concern is not unjustified.

The government of Malawi has just announced that around 16,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses have to be thrown away due to expired expiry dates.

The delivery was organized by the African Union and arrived in Malawi at the end of March, with a shelf life of just under three weeks.

The cans came from South Africa, where all vaccinations with AstraZeneca had previously been stopped.

"We tried our best, but it was not possible to vaccinate all of the cans in the short period of time," says a person responsible for the vaccination campaign.

The vaccination skepticism also plays a role: “We haven't been able to do a lot of educational work yet.

That is now changing. "

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The debate about AstraZeneca in Europe in particular has left deep marks in Africa - many are unsettled and no longer trust the vaccine

Photo: Thoko Chikondi / AP

Of the total of more than 500,000 vaccination doses delivered, not even half have been injected in Malawi.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Health hastily expanded the group of eligible residents to include all residents of legal age, but thousands of vaccinations could no longer be used in time.

"It is also a question of the right planning," says the Kenyan health expert Githinji Gitahi.

He is chairman of the non-commercial medical service provider Amref and advises the World Health Organization (WHO), among others.

"Many countries had to quickly expand the target groups so that the vaccinations would be consumed."

In addition to the reports on the side effects, Gitahi primarily blames conspiracy myths for the vaccine skepticism.

There are numerous rumors about alleged infertility caused by corona vaccinations, especially on WhatsApp.

"People hardly have any reliable information, and many do not trust their governments," said the health expert.

And although some vaccine doses have now arrived in Africa through initiatives such as Covax, there is a lack of money and will in many countries to finance awareness-raising campaigns themselves.

The dangerous misinformation can sometimes spread unchecked.

The consequence: In other African countries, too, tens of thousands of vaccine doses are threatened with expiry.

In the Ivory Coast, out of 500,000 ampoules delivered, just 40,000 had been inoculated by the end of March.

If things continue at this rate, a considerable part of the delivery will have to be thrown away by September at the latest.

"I admit that I am stressed," the head of the national vaccination program is quoted in media reports.

The statements of a French researcher from last year, which had caused horror in Africa, are also responsible for the fears of the population.

In an interview, the scientist suggested testing vaccines on the African population first.

These statements led to widespread criticism and concern that the inhabitants of the continent were being misused as guinea pigs.

The researcher immediately rowed back, but the narrative is spreading rapidly in many countries.

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A vaccination center in Malawi: The vaccination campaign is making slow progress

Photo: Thoko Chikondi / AP

With bitter consequences in South Sudan too. 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have to be disposed of or returned there; they have expired as in Malawi. The vaccinations were donated by a large telecommunications company at the end of March, but according to the Ministry of Health, they were already two weeks before the expiry date when they arrived in the country. Because of the sluggish vaccination campaign, they could no longer be injected in time.

It is a paradoxical phenomenon in many African countries: To date, far too few vaccine doses have come in to even come close to achieving the desired herd immunity. In countries like Kenya, the vaccine threatens to run out completely in a few days. The Covax initiative has acute delivery problems - among other things because vaccination doses are no longer exported from the manufacturing country India. India is struggling with skyrocketing numbers of infections and wants to protect its own population first. Alternatives such as the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine are unsuitable for large parts of Africa because the necessary cold chains cannot be maintained.

This acute shortage of vaccines is the main problem, says health expert Githinji Gitahi.

At the same time, however, thousands of doses are already being thrown away in the first countries because of the vaccination skepticism.

»We have to do two things: produce our own vaccinations in Africa and involve the population much more closely.

This is the only way to get ahead, ”says Gitahi.

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