Last checked at 
(Adds J&J pricing, benefit, Ramaphosa comment)
March 29 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson will supply
the African Union (AU) with up to 400 million doses of its
COVID-19 vaccine beginning in the third quarter, the drugmaker
said on Monday, as the continent grapples with vaccinating 60%
of its people.
The virus has killed almost 121,000 people across Africa and
infected 4.18 million.
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 follows months of negotiations with the AU, which
announced a provisional agreement in January to buy 270 million
doses of vaccines from J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer
-BioNTech.
The status of the talks with the other two companies is not
known.
J&J's vaccine came to the market much later than those of
AstraZeneca and Pfizer but has recently gained widespread
acceptance globally, especially in Africa.
"J&J requires just a single dose, it makes it a very good
programmatically to rollout," said John Nkengasong, director of
the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
He said the price of the J&J's dose is likely to be $10.
In February, South Africa put use of AstraZeneca's shot on
hold after data showed it gave minimal protection against
mild-to-moderate infection caused by the country's dominant
variant.
Several countries in Europe have suspended using
AstraZeneca's vaccine as they investigate a small number of
reports of rare blood clotting in people who got the vaccine.
Global regulators have said the shot is safe and effective.
Pfizer's shot has more complex storage and transportation
needs than other vaccines, making it more challenging to deploy
in warmer climates or in poorer countries.
AVAT said on Monday that many of the AU's 55 member states
had shown a strong preference for J&J.
Africa is also grappling with a more-infectious variant
identified in South Africa amid concerns about delays of
deliveries of AstraZeneca shots via the COVAX scheme which is
aimed at supplying poorer countries.
The continent is far behind 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 immunise 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," Nkengasong
said.
Most of the supplies will be produced by Aspen Pharma
in South Africa, AVAT said in a statement.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that South Africa
will get 30 million vaccines from Aspen's facility while a total
roughly 250 million will be distributed across the continent
from the facility.
Aspen has contracted with J&J to manufacture 300 million
doses.
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.
Europe approved J&J's single dose vaccine earlier this
month. 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 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 Nick Macfie and
Jason Neely)
