Africa needs 20m second AstraZeneca jabs in six weeks: WHO

UN health agency’s Africa director says a pause in the vaccination campaign will lead to ‘lost lives and lost hope’.

Africa needs at least 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine within six weeks if those who have had their first shot are to get the second in time, the WHO said Thursday. “Africa needs vaccines now,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement. “Any pause in our vaccination campaigns will lead to lost lives and lost hope.”