Africa lags on COVID-19 vaccination, healthcare workers at risk - WHO, nurses say

GENEVA/NAIROBI - Only 15 of Africa's 54 nations have fully vaccinated 10% of their populations against COVID-19 and many frontline health workers remain at risk, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Council of Nurses (ICN) said on Thursday.

They called for speeding up distribution of doses to those at risk on the continent amid what the WHO called "opaque delivery plans" and "bottlenecks" in the rollout of vaccines in Africa.

The WHO had called for vaccinating at least 10% of health workers in every country by Sept. 30 - a target met by nearly 90% of high-income countries, the United Nations health agency said.