Zambia has been allocated 8.7 million doses of the 270 million COVID-19 vaccines secured this month by the African Union, AU.
However this may rise to 25 million doses by December 2021.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who serves as AU chair, has said the vaccines secured by the AU will be supplied by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, through the Serum Institute of India, and Johnson & Johnson.
“The vaccines will require approval from the Africa CDC and further approval from local regulatory and other approval mechanisms,” he said, referring to the AU’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a statement, Zambia’s permanent representative to the AU, Emmanuel Mwamba said: “If member states have to buy individually, they have to wait until July 2022, but through this mechanism, we can access the vaccines by April 2021.”
Zambia has so far recorded 45,337 Covid -19 cases and 639 deaths.
SABC