Africa CDC – Mastercard Foundation: Saving Lives and Livelihoods Newsletter, October 2023

COVID-19 in Africa: Where are we today?

Currently, 14 African Union Member States have vaccinated at least 70 percent of their eligible populations with the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the WHO Tanzania and São Tomé and Príncipe have fully vaccinated their populations, while Botswana has immunized 94 percent of theirs Mauritius, Seychelles, and Somalia have vaccinated over 90 percent of their eligible population Comoros, Liberia, Rwanda, and Zambia have vaccinated about 80 percent of their eligible population.
Meanwhile, approximately 51 8 percent of the continent’s eligible population is fully vaccinated

Shaping the future of vaccine research and development

The presence of the Africa CDC and the Mastercard Foundation at the World Vaccine Congress Europe, which took place from October 16 – 19 marked a significant step in highlighting the progress made towards building a resilient health system and assuring the long-term health security of Africa.
This active involvement placed our visionary goal, which we are actively pursuing with the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative and Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing ( as a central theme of the congress conversations driving advancements in the vaccine manufacturing and R&D sectors in Africa In this setting, Africa CDC and PAVM established themselves as thought leaders and mobilizers in global discussions concerning vaccine R&D.