African Union signs deal for 400 million Johnson & Johnson single shot vaccine

The African Union will receive 220 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) single-shot vaccine through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT).

The was disclosed by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in a statement on Monday. They added that a potential 180 million vaccines could also be purchased after the vaccine purchase agreement was signed.

What Afrexim is saying:

- The vaccines will be made available to African countries through the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), over a period of 18 months.

- The successful conclusion of the agreement was made possible by the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), who supported the negotiation process with Johnson and Johnson.

- UNICEF is also acting as procurement and logistics agent, while the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) was supported in terms of advice on various aspects by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, said the bank is highly honoured to have been given the opportunity by the African Union to facilitate this impactful transaction under the auspices of AVATT.

“This financing will support Intra-African trade and we have already commenced engagement with our financial partners to secure the additional funding that would support procurement if Africa decides to procure the additional 180 million doses,” he added.