AP, Kampala
At a Covid-19 vaccination site in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, tempers flared among those waiting for scarce AstraZeneca jabs, with some accusing others of trying to jump the queue.
Nurses intervened, telling them the accused had been waiting since the previous day and averting violence in what has become a tense atmosphere as Ugandans jostle for vaccinations.
In the aftermath of a brutal wave of infections driven by the delta variant, many Ugandans seeking a first dose of vaccine are competing with hundreds of thousands who have waited months for a second dose. But the country now has only 285,000 shots donated by Norway.
The delta surge has touched off a vaccination rush across Africa that the slow trickle of donated doses can’t keep up with, compounding the continent’s vaccine disadvantage compared with the rest of the world. The urgency to obtain a second dose across much of the world’s least vaccinated continent contrasts sharply with rich countries now beginning to authorize third doses.
Dr. Alfred Driwale, the top official with Uganda’s immunization program, said ruefully that the small number of doses will do little to remedy the situation as the 5 million Ugandans eligible for vaccination — everyone from soldiers to health workers — scramble for shots under a first-come, first-serve system.
“You can’t make a policy when there is no certainty of supply,” Driwale said.
Health officials throughout Africa’s 54 nations have repeatedly expressed disappointment over what they see as vaccine nationalism as rich nations appear to hoard doses while poor countries lag far behind. In June, amid severe shortages, the World Health Organization warned that vaccination campaigns in Africa had come “to a near halt,” underscoring the continent’s plight at a time when many countries faced deadly surges. Less than 2% of the continent’s 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated and African countries have received just over 100 million vaccine doses, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Donations of AstraZeneca from countries such as France are not considered large amounts in efforts to vaccinate 60% of Africa’s population by the end of 2022, said John Nkengasong, the group’s director. He told reporters Thursday that large shipments of AstraZeneca are not expected anytime soon until the situation with an Indian manufacturer changes.
“The best vaccine to use as a second dose is any vaccine that’s available,” he added, using the example of getting the first AstraZeneca dose and then the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has begun arriving in African countries after the continent purchased 400 million doses. Uganda recently received 300,000 doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine that authorities insist cannot be used in combination with AstraZeneca.
