GENEVA/NAIROBI, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Only 15 of Africa’s 54 nations have fully vaccinated 10% of their populations against COVID-19 and many frontline health workers remain at risk, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Council of Nurses (ICN) said on Thursday.

They called for speeding up distribution of doses to those at risk on the continent amid what the WHO called “opaque delivery plans” and “bottlenecks” in the rollout of vaccines in Africa.

The WHO had called for vaccinating at least 10% of health workers in every country by Sept. 30 – a target met by nearly 90% of high-income countries, the United Nations health agency said.

Half of the 52 African countries that have received COVID-19 vaccines have fully vaccinated just 2% or less of their populations, WHO’s regional office in Brazzaville said in a statement.

Howard Catton, chief executive officer of the Geneva-based ICN, told Reuters that it analysed data from nine African countries.

It showed that approximately a third of health workers were still waiting for their first dose of vaccine and only about 10 percent had been fully vaccinated.

“Despite the promises, we are not seeing the delivery And this is a health and a human rights crisis,” he said. “Today nurses and health workers are still going to work knowing that they are at higher risk, but not having the protection of vaccine.”

In the meantime, some rich countries are already administering booster shots and vaccines to youth, he said.

“You know, we have just seen a billionaire send a healthcare worker into space, yet, here on earth, we have millions of healthcare workers still waiting to be vaccinated. They shouldn’t have to wish on a star for a vaccine, they should be prioritized,” Catton said.

Richard Mihigo, coordinator for the WHO’s Immunization and Vaccines Development Programme Africa, told a briefing: “What the data is showing us – in the 39 countries where we were able to collect that information, 8% of all the doses administered in those 39 countries were administered to healthcare workers.”

Some healthcare workers in remote rural areas have not been reached, he said.

=====================================================

World  Summary

Oct 1 (Reuters) – Australia will lift one of the toughest international border restrictions on its citizens next month, while neighbouring New Zealand logged more Delta coronavirus infections in its capital city. read more

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* Pupils will from Oct. 4 no longer have to wear protective face masks in French primary schools in areas with a low COVID-19 infection rate, according to a government decree. read more

* The European Union will extend a mechanism to monitor and potentially limit the export of COVID-19 vaccines from the bloc, an EU official said. read more

AMERICAS

* A U.S. judge upheld the University of California’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement against a challenge by a professor who alleged he had immunity due to a prior coronavirus infection.

* United Airlines has trimmed the number of employees who are facing termination for defying the company’s vaccine mandate. The Chicago-based carrier said 320 U.S.-based staff are now not in compliance.

* Los Angeles officials on Wednesday signalled they would vote next week to prohibit unvaccinated people from entering most businesses in the United States’ second-largest city. read more

ASIA-PACIFIC

* South Korea extended social distancing curbs for two weeks, offering more incentives to people to get vaccinated as it battles thousands of new cases each day. read more

* Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical said that “human error” caused metal contaminants to get into Moderna vaccine doses, leading to a recall. read more

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has eased restrictions to the lowest alert level, as the country looks to open up its economy ahead of the summer holiday season. read more

* Egypt on Thursday received 1.6 million doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer as a gift from the United States as part of the COVAX initiative, the first batch of a total of 5 million doses. read more

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Malaysia has given conditional approval for a vaccine made by China’s Sinovac to be used on young people aged between 12 and 17. read more

* It is safe for people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and a flu shot at the same time and it does not negatively impact the immune response produced by either, a British study has found.

WORLD STATS

The post WHO: Africa Lags Behind on COVID-19 Vaccination, Summary, World Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.