COVID-19 vaccination programs are ongoing in the majority countries and territories in Africa, with 51 of 54 African countries having launched vaccination programs by July 2021. As of October 2023, 51.8% of the continent's population is fully vaccinated with over 1084.5 million doses administered.

Starting vaccine programs in Africa As vaccine programs began, the World Health Organization predicted in June 2021 that 47 of Africa's 54 nations would fall short of the aim of vaccinating 10% of their people by September 2021. At that time, Africa accounted for fewer than 1% of worldwide vaccine doses delivered, and by early 2022, Africa received in total less than 2% of the 3 billion vaccination doses provided globally.

On 15 July 2021, WHO Africa's coordinator for immunization and vaccines development reported that African nations had destroyed some 450,000 vaccine doses due to their expiry dates. He cited Malawi, South Sudan, Liberia, Mauritania, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Comoros and the Democratic Republic of Congo as examples.

Also in July 2021, the European Investment Bank committed to fund Senegal's first COVID-19 vaccine production factory, at Institut Pasteur de Dakar. By the end of 2022, this factory is expected to manufacture up to 25 million doses of a licensed COVID-19 vaccine per month. This is part of a wide effort by the European Investment Bank to address the health and economic impact of COVID-19. Meanwhile, BioNTech and the European Union are collaborating to assess mRNA vaccine production facilities in Rwanda and Senegal.

In seven African countries (Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Morocco, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tunisia) the entire targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021. At the other end of the scale, there was no mass vaccination in Eritrea, while in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo less than 0.4% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated.

Graph of total doses administered in Africa

Background

Approvals

Oxford–AstraZeneca / Covishield Full approval: — Emergency use: WHO (15 February 2021), Africa Regulatory Taskforce (25 February 2021), Angola (March 2021), Benin (March 2021), Botswana (February 2021), Burkina Faso (May 2021), Cameroon (April 2021), Cape Verde (March 2021), Central African Republic (May 2021), Côte d'Ivoire (February 2021), DRC (April 2021), Djibouti (22 February 2021), Egypt (30 January 2021), Eswatini (March 2021), Ethiopia (March 2021), Gambia (March 2021), Ghana (March 2021), Guinea-Bissau (March 2021), Kenya (May 2021), Lesotho (March 2021), Liberia, Libya (March 2021), Malawi (February 2021), Mali (January 2021), Mauritius (January 2021), Morocco (6 January 2021), Namibia (March 2021), Niger (March 2021), Nigeria (18 February 2021), Rwanda (March 2021), São Tomé and Principe, Senegal (March 2021), Seychelles (January 2021), Sierra Leone (March 2021), Somalia (March 2021), South Africa (1 February 2021; suspended 7 February 2021), South Sudan (April 2021), Sudan (March 2021), Togo (March 2021), Tunisia (7 May 2021), Uganda (March 2021), Zambia (March 2021).

Pfizer–BioNTech Full approval: — Emergency use: WHO (31 December 2020), Botswana (April 2021), Cape Verde (March 2021), Côte d'Ivoire (January 2021), Kenya (2 August 2021), Libya (March 2021), Malawi, Nigeria (30 April 2021), Rwanda (March 2021), Seychelles (27 July 2021), South Africa (11 March 2021), Tunisia (13 January 2021), Zambia.

Moderna Full approval: — Emergency use: WHO (30 April 2021), Botswana (April 2021), Cape Verde (March 2021), Kenya (19 August 2021), Libya (March 2021), Malawi, Nigeria (15 July 2021).

Janssen Full approval: — Emergency use: WHO (30 April 2021), Africa Regulatory Taskforce (10 March 2021), Botswana (April 2021), Cameroon (April 2021), Cape Verde (March 2021), Egypt (August 2021), Ghana (August 2021), Libya (March 2021), Malawi, Nigeria (17 May 2021), South Africa (31 March 2021), Tanzania (July 2021), Tunisia (8 April 2021), Zambia, Zimbabwe (28 July 2021).

Sinopharm BIBP Full approval: Seychelles. Emergency use: WHO (7 May 2021), Angola (March 2021), Cameroon (April 2021), Cape Verde (March 2021), Chad, Comoros (May 2021), Egypt (3 January 2021), Gabon (March 2021), Gambia (17 June 2021), Malawi, Mauritania (March 2021), Mauritius (March 2021), Morocco (22 January 2021), Mozambique (March 2021), Namibia (March 2021), Niger (April 2021), Nigeria (24 August 2021), Republic of the Congo (March 2021), Senegal (March 2021), Sierra Leone (March 2021), Somalia (April 2021), Tunisia (12 July 2021), Zambia, Zimbabwe (10 March 2021).

Sputnik V / Sputnik Light Full approval: — Emergency use: Algeria (10 January 2021), Angola (3 March 2021), Cameroon (19 March 2021), Djibouti (3 March 2021), Egypt (24 February 2021), Gabon (17 February 2021), Ghana (20 February 2021), Guinea (December 2020), Kenya (10 March 2021), Libya (April 2021), Mali (30 March 2021), Mauritius (22 March 2021), Morocco (10 March 2021), Namibia (11 March 2021), Nigeria (15 July 2021), Republic of the Congo (3 March 2021), Seychelles (19 March 2021), Tunisia (30 January 2021), Zimbabwe (9 March 2021).

CoronaVac Full approval: — Emergency use: WHO (1 June 2021), Benin (March 2021), Botswana (April 2021), Egypt (26 April 2021), Libya (March 2021), Malawi, South Africa (3 July 2021), Tanzania (July 2021), Tunisia (5 March 2021), Zimbabwe (9 March 2021).

Covaxin Full approval: — Emergency use: WHO (3 November 2021), Botswana (April 2021), Mauritius (21 March 2021), Zimbabwe (4 March 2021).

Manufacturing

Johnson & Johnson In a manufacturing deal, Johnson and Johnson plan to manufacture 220 million doses of vaccine at The Aspen Pharmacare manufacturing facility in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. They plan to distribute the vaccine to other African countries with 30 million to go to South Africa.

Pfizer-BioNTech Starting in 2022, the Biovac Institute in Cape Town will manufacture 100 million doses annually of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine exclusively for African countries.

Sputnik V Algeria's pharmaceutical minister Lotfi Benbahmad announced that an agreement had been reached to produce Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine at Saidal's manufacturing plant in Constantine.

ImmunityBio The Biovac Institute in South Africa has a contract with ImmunityBio to manufacture the ImmunityBio COVID-19 vaccine and distribute it throughout Africa.

Afrigen A consortium of the Biovac Institute, Afrigen and the South African Medical Research Council was mandated by the World Health Organization to develop and manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine using the same technology as the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Approval of the new mRNA vaccine is expected in 2024.

Statistics

Vaccination by territory Algeria

On 29 January 2021, Algeria launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, a day after receiving its first shipment of 50,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. As of 6 June 2021, Algeria reported administering 2.5 million doses of the vaccine. Algeria is currently vaccinating its population with both Sputnik V and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

31% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Angola On 4 March 2021, Angola began their vaccination program after receiving 624,000 doses of the two-dose Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX initiative. As of 15 June 2021, Angola has administered 1,314,375 doses of vaccines. 822,109 people with the first dose and 492,266 people fully vaccinated.

28% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Benin

Benin launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign on 29 March 2021, initially with 144,000 doses of the Covishield (AstraZeneca) vaccine. As of 8 June 2021, Benin has administered 26,624 doses, 21,834 people with one dose and 4,790 people fully vaccinated. The country has also began administering CoronaVac. Moreover, Benin received 302,400 doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine on 27 July 2021.

26% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Botswana

Botswana began its vaccination program on 26 March 2021, initially using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. As of 7 June 2021, Botswana has administered 150,019 doses.

The entire targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso began its vaccination program on 2 June 2021, initially after receiving 115,200 doses of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on 30 May 2021 through COVAX, As of 14 June 2021, 17,775 doses have been administered. followed by 302,400 doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States.

8% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Burundi

Burundi's vaccination program launched on 18 October 2021, initially using 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine donated by China.

According to the World Health Organization, less than 0.1% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Cameroon

Cameroon began its vaccination program on 12 April 2021, initially using the 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine donated by China. On 17 April 2021, it received 391,200 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine through COVAX. As of 14 June 2021, 89,180 doses have been administered, 72,111 people with one dose and 17,069 people fully vaccinated. On 21 July 2021, Cameroon received 303,050 doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States.

6% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Cape Verde

Cape Verde began its vaccination program on 19 March 2021, shortly after they received 24,000 doses of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. As of 15 June 2021, 47,943 doses had been administered, 45,013 people with one dose and 2,930 people fully vaccinated. By November 2021, the entire targeted population had been fully vaccinated.

Central African Republic

The Central African Republic began its vaccination program on 20 May 2021, initially using the 60,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine delivered through the COVAX facility and 80,000 doses of the same vaccine which the Democratic Republic of Congo had been unable to use before the expiry date. As of 15 June 2021, 42,644 doses have been administered, 41,095 people with one dose and 1,549 people fully vaccinated.

22% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Chad

Chad began its vaccination program on 4 June 2021, initially after receiving 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine donated by China. As of 10 June 2021, 5,324 doses have been administered.

1% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Comoros Comoros began its vaccination program on 10 April 2021, initially using the 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine donated by China and 12,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine obtained through COVAX. As of 8 June 2021, 84,360 doses have been administered, 43,140 people with one dose and 41,220 people fully vaccinated. On 26 June 2021, Comoros purchased 200,000 additional doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine, followed five days later by 100,000 doses donated by China.

By the end of April 2021, 40,863 doses had been administered; 83,907 by the end of May; 84,360 by the end of June; 162,450 by the end of July; 277,419 by the end of August; 341,134 by the end of September; 430,245 by the end of October; 523,256 by the end November; 581,547 by the end of December 2021; 598,000 by the end of January 2022; 637,961 by the end of February 2022; 642,320 by the end of April 2022. 69% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated by the end of 2021.Africa COVID-19 dashboard (World Health Organization).

Democratic Republic of the Congo