Africa’s Covid-19 vaccine uptake rose 15% between January and February, largely driven by mass vaccination campaigns in populous countries including DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria. Covid-19 campaign highlights in the first quarter of 2022 include:
- Ethiopia: A mass vaccination campaign pushed up the number of doses administered by 136% between January 23 and March 6.
- Kenya: A two-week drive in early February saw an average of 200,000 people vaccinated daily compared with 70,000 per day before the campaign.
- Guinea Bissau: Around 125,000 doses were administered during a two-week campaign in February, in comparison with 11,000 in the whole of January.
- Tanzania: While not yet carrying out mass vaccinations, the country saw a 152% increase in vaccine uptake between January and February.
WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, and partners are supporting mass Covid-19 vaccination drives in at least 10 priority countries to reach 100 million people by the end of April. To date, the continent has fully vaccinated just 15% of the adult population. Only two African countries—Mauritius and Seychelles—have surpassed 70% coverage, and five countries have fully vaccinated between 40% and 69% of their populations. Thirty-six countries have coverage under 20%, including 15 that have yet to reach 10%. WHO AFRO; United Nations