The cost of vaccinating 60% of Africa’s 1.3 billion people would be between $10 billion and $15 billion, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control.
The World Bank has committed $12 billion (R318 billion) to African countries to support vaccination programs across a continent that hasn’t been able to keep pace with developed nations’ rollouts. The World Bank money will be in the form of grants or on “highly concessional terms”, said David Malpass, president of the World Bank, in a statement following a virtual meeting in January on the Africa Covid-19 vaccine financing and deployment strategy. “We’re preparing emergency vaccine financing projects in 21 countries in Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Mozambique, Tunisia, Eswatini and Cabo Verde to name a few,” said Malpass.
