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Most African countries will kick-start their COVID-19 vaccination programs by the end of March as efforts to procure doses for the continent's 1.3 billion people gather pace, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

The world's poorest continent faces logistical and financial obstacles to securing all the vaccines it needs, but the WHO-led COVAX facility has begun to bear fruit. read more

"This week Africa has been at the forefront of COVAX facility deliveries, finally, with almost 10 million vaccine doses being delivered to 11 countries as of this morning," WHO Africa's Matshidiso Moeti told a virtual news conference.

"We expect that around half of African countries will receive COVAX deliveries in the coming week and that most countries will have vaccination programs underway by the end of March."

COVAX, also led by the GAVI vaccines alliance and other partners, plans to send about 1.3 billion doses to 92 lower- and middle-income nations, covering up to 20% of their populations.

As of Thursday, Africa had reported at least 3,955,000 infections and 104,000 deaths. That is still a relatively small toll compared to other continents, with higher national death counts in the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and Britain.