African nations may have a better idea of what COVID-19 vaccination products to expect with an update from the global COVAX Facility issued Wednesday.

COVAX, led by the Gavi vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization, provided a country-by-country breakdown in a detailed forecast for the first and second quarters of this year.

The update covers 240 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine licensed to Serum Institute of India (AZ/SII) and another 96 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. It also contains an overview of 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under a WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

“Total doses cover, on average, 3.3 percent of the total population of the 145 (participating countries) receiving doses from at least one manufacturer in the list detailed below,” said the COVAX team. “This is in line with the Facility target to reach at least 3 percent population coverage in all countries in the first half of the year, enough to protect the most vulnerable groups such as health care workers.”

The totals include more than 2.5 million doses of the AZ/SII vaccine for Angola and nearly 7 million doses of the same product for Democratic Republic of Congo. Almost 9 million doses of AZ/SII are headed for Ethiopia, more than 16 million vaccinations go to Nigeria, and about 3.1 million doses are expected in South Africa.

“COVAX partners believe the publication of this information, which has now been shared with all economies participating in the COVAX Facility, marks an important first step in providing governments and public health leaders with the information they need to put in place practical steps for the provision of early doses and a successful national roll out of vaccines,” the organization said.

To view the complete listing and details, check this link.

Image: GAVI file