Africa-Press – Lesotho. The United States (U. S. ) Department Coordinator for Covid-19 Response and Health Security Gayle E. Smith revealed the U. S. ’s commitment towards participation in the fight against the global pandemic.
The Department of States through the Africa Regional Media Hub hosted a virtual press conference last week, to discuss partnership, United States (U. S.
) leadership and contributions in the global effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic, including the recent U.
S. donation of approximately 25million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the African Union (AU). Smith expressed her gratitude on the work carried out by the U. S. President Joe Biden’s commitment to share vaccines around the world.
“Vaccines are beginning to arrive in Africa now, we’re in the process of delivering the 25 million doses, working closely with the AU, the government and COVAX to get these on the ground as quickly as possible.
I am also pleased to announce that in August, the doses that the President committed just before the G7, 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, will also start moving in August, and a significant portion of those will also be deployed to Africa,” Smith stated.
She said that they are pleased to be working with partners in Africa , governments, civil society, healthcare workers , organizations, the AU given its prominent role, the Africa CDC (Center of Disease Control) – to move these vaccines out there as quickly as possible.
“Because we are well aware that coverage is low, that this third wave is intense, that the delta variant is quite strong and we need to do everything we can in partnership with the people and governments of Africa to get these vaccines out there,” she added.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Akunna Cook indicated that most people have questions about the U. S. global COVID-19 response and the status of their plans for vaccine-sharing, particularly in Africa.
“We are pleased to be delivering safe and effective vaccine doses across Africa and the world, the first vaccines have been delivered to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Gambia, and Senegal, many more are to come later this week and over the coming weeks and months,” Cook stated.
She extended that their response is the latest in the long record of U. S. cooperation with African partners in enhancing Africa’s health security, whether through U. S.
Presidents’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative, the Global Health Security Agenda on Ebola, maternal and child health among others.
“All of this is part of our commitment to Africa’s health infrastructure, an infrastructure that is helping us meet the demands of this COVID response. Extensive U. S.
investments in health in Sub-Saharan Africa has over the past 20 years amounted to over $100 billion to safe millions of lives, but more importantly, has strengthened the resiliency of health systems.
Around two-thirds of U. S. foreign assistance to Africa remains focused on the health sector. Africa is a priority for this administration, and we are proud of the resiliency that African nations have demonstrated in the face of this pandemic. We remain committed to staying a leading partner in African countries’ response to pandemics and infectious disease outbreaks,” Cook added.
