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March 29 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has agreed to
supply up to 400 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the
African Union (AU) from the third quarter of 2021, the drugmaker
said on Monday, as the continent struggles to get shots into
arms and tame infections.
J&J unit Janssen Pharmaceutica NV has entered into a deal
with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to deliver 220
million doses of its single-dose shot. AVAT could order an
additional 180 million doses through 2022.(https://refini.tv/3cyeFiB)
The deal comes after months of negotiations with the AU,
which announced a provisional agreement in January to buy 270
million doses of vaccines from three drugmakers: J&J,
AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech
.
The status of the talks with the other two companies is not
known.
AVAT said on Monday many countries out of the 55 AU member
states showed strong preference for J&J.
The supplies will help the continent reach its target of
vaccinating at least 750 million people, or 60% of the
population, as it tries to contain the spread of the virus which
has killed almost 121,000 people and infected 4.18 million on
the region.
It is also grappling with a more-infectious variant
identified in South Africa amid concerns about delays of
deliveries of AstraZeneca shots as part of the COVAX scheme
which is aimed at supplying poorer countries.
In February, South Africa put on hold use of AstraZeneca's
shot after data showed it gave minimal protection against
mild-to-moderate infection caused by the country's dominant
variant.
The continent is far behind wealthy nations, including
Israel, the United States and Britain, in its vaccination
rollout. Almost half of Britons have received their first dose,
while in contrast only 0.4% of South Africa's population has
received one dose.
"We need to immunize at least 60% of our population in order
to get rid of the virus from our continent. The J&J agreement
enables us to move towards achieving this target," said John
Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control
and Prevention.
Most of the supplies will be produced by Aspen Pharma
in South Africa, AVAT said in a statement.
Nkengasong did not comment on the price per shot agreed
between J&J and the AU in the deal announced on Monday. However,
a draft document for the AU vaccine plan, seen by Reuters in
January, showed that the J&J shot would cost African countries
$10 a dose.
As part of the AU vaccine plan, the African Export-Import
Bank (Afreximbank) has approved up to $2 billion in finance for
countries to buy shots via the AU.
Earlier this month, Europe approved J&J single dose COVID-19
vaccine. The United States, Canada and Bahrain have also
approved the shot.
Late last year, J&J said it and the GAVI vaccine alliance
expected to enter into a deal that would provide up to 500
million doses of the company's vaccine to COVAX through 2022.
(Reporting by Nandakumar D in Bengaluru; Additional reporting
by Giulia Paravicini in Addis Ababa and David Lewis in Nairobi;
Writing by Josephine Mason in London;
Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Nick Macfie)
