Senegal has paid a little over 2 billion CFA francs ($3.72 million) for 200 000 doses of aCOVID-19 vaccine – nearly $19 per shot – developed by China’sSinopharm, a finance ministry spokesman said on Friday.
African nations are struggling to procure vaccines in the global scramble for doses. Coverage secured through African Union (AU) and World Health Organisation-backed (WHO) programmes so far fall short of the continent’s needs.
Finance ministry spokesman Balle Preira confirmed the cost of the shots, which will cover only a fraction of its population of 16 million, without giving further details.
As a lower-middle income country, Senegal is eligible for around 1.3 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines for free in the first wave of disbursement from the WHO’s COVAXprogram to provide vaccines globally.
Separately, the AU says it has secured roughly 670 million doses for the continent.
Senegal is eligible to get 3.4 million vaccines for just under $23 million under the plan. Those include over 620 000 doses of the Pfizer Inc two-shot vaccine at $6.75 per shot, more than 1.2 million of AstraZeneca’s two-shot vaccine at $3 each, and nearly 1.5 million of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine at $10 each.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall said this week he aims to start a vaccination campaign by the end of February.
The West African nation has recorded about 30 000 cases and 735 deaths from COVID-19.
Senegal aims to inoculate around 90% of a targeted 3.5million people including health workers and high-risk individuals between the age of 19 and 60 years old by the end2021, a senior health ministry official told a forum on Friday.
Despite a relatively late start compared to Western vaccine producers, China is ramping up efforts to distribute its vaccines in Africa and elsewhere.
