France will send 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa over the next three months, the French presidency said in a statement on Monday.
The vaccines will be allocated and distributed through the African Union’s Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and Covax. AVAT is a means of enabling group purchases of vaccines by AU members to help them meet at least 50 percent of their needs.
At a conference in Berlin last week, African leaders renewed calls for vaccine equity.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was unfair that richer countries had vaccinated nearly their entire adult populations while poorer countries struggled to buy vaccines.
Africa has administered the least vaccines of any continent. Only 2% of Africa’s population of 1.2 billion is fully vaccinated.
