NAIROBI (AP) A special African Union envoy charged with leading efforts to procure COVID-19 vaccinations for Africa is blaming Europe as Africa struggles amid a crushing 3rd surge of infections. He said Thursday that no dose, not even one vial, had left a European factory.Strive Masiyiwa also attacked the global effort to distribute vaccines to low and middle-income countries. COVAX was accused of withholding critical information, including that key donors haven't fulfilled funding pledges.Masiyiwa said that if African leaders had known, they might have done something different. He added that many countries were "just sitting back and saying, the vaccines will come'... Africans are disappointed."He stated that Africa had purchased 400 million vaccine doses. But he challenged donors to pay up. We won't measure pledges any more. Instead, we will measure the vaccines arriving at our international airports.According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the third wave of aggressive infections is now ravaging the continent of Africa with 1.3 billion inhabitants.John Nkengasong stated that only 1% of Africa’s population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Masiyiwa stated that COVAX had committed to delivering 700 million vaccine doses to Africa before December. Africa received 65 million vaccine doses at the end of the year. COVAX has delivered less than 50 million doses.Nkengasong stated that we are far from our goal. We don't want to be known as COVID Africa. (In Europe, the stadiums are filled with young people shouting and hugging. In Africa, that is impossible.Masiyiwa and he announced that the first shipments to arrive of Johnson & Johnson vaccines and Pfizer vaccines, which have U.S. support, will be arriving next week.According to the Africa CDC director, there have been 5.5 million COVID-19-related deaths in Africa.To reach the 60% goal, the continent will need 1.6 billion doses of vaccine in a double-dose regimen, and 800 million in a single-dose program.
