The African Union (AU) and Johnson & Johnson have signed a historic COVID-19 vaccine procurement agreement for 400 million doses of the single-shot vaccine.
According to a statement on Monday, the vaccine procurement agreement signed on Sunday, is expected to allow all AU Member States, through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) set up last November 2020 under the chairmanship of President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, will have access to 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, with the potential to order an additional 180 million doses.
Most of the supplies will be produced at the giant pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in South Africa operated by Aspen Pharma.
The vaccines will be made available to African countries through the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), over a period of 18 months. (ThisDay)