Around 62 million doses were administered across the continent in February up from 54 million in January.

The slow uptake in COVID-19 vaccines in Africa requires global partners and countries to reset their programmes.

—Benedict Okey Oramah, President of Afreximbank and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the African Union COVID-19 Response Fund.

The rise in vaccine shipments comes as Africa sees its second week of falling case numbers after a steep and unbroken eight-week surge.

Over 1 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses arrived on Saturday from the US.

Recovery will be challenging without increased supply of vaccines across the continent.

The pandemic erases decades of gains in development but response efforts show signs of renewed global commitment.

The COVID-19 upsurge comes as the vaccine supply crunch persists.

Just 2% of the continent’s nearly 1.3 billion people have received one dose and only 9.4 million Africans are fully vaccinated.