The African Union (AU) has secured an additional 400 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for the continent.
Together with doses the AU has already reserved and those to be made available via the World Health Organization-backed Covax scheme, this brings the total for Africa to 1.27 billion.
Africa needs about 1.5 billion doses to immunise 60% of inhabitants, the threshold for herd immunity.
Most nations have not started vaccinating, lacking funds to do so.
Initiatives to help them have struggled to put in orders as wealthier countries are accused of bulk-buying vaccines.
Earlier this week, South Africa’s leading coronavirus expert Salim Abdool Karim told the BBC that such behaviour was “unconscionable”, warning “no-one is safe until everyone is safe”.
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