The African Union (AU) is buying up to 110 million doses of the corona vaccine from American pharmaceutical company Moderna, in a deal partly brokered by the United States. The US is forgoing the purchase of 33 million doses of the vaccine to make it available to the AU.
The first doses will already be delivered in the coming months; this is 15 million doses by the end of 2021, 35 million doses in the first quarter of 2022, and up to 60 million doses in the second quarter.
“We hope that other vaccine-producing countries will follow the US lead and grant us access to buy vaccines,” AU envoy Masiyiwa told Reuters news agency.
The canceled 33 million doses will not have a major impact on the US vaccination program, a White House corona coordinator said. The US has started administering booster shots. In Africa, only a small proportion of the 1.3 billion inhabitants are fully vaccinated.
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