Tony Blair: Africa rejecting AstraZeneca vaccine due to internet misinformation

Unicef calls on G7 countries to donate 150 million doses to Covax scheme

Covax has been distributing Covid-19 vaccines to poorer nations but the programme is experiencing a shortfall of doses. Getty Images

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair said rumours and misinformation on the internet were leading to increasing vaccine hesitancy in poorer nations.

He said reluctance in Africa was compounding problems as some countries were turning away supplies of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines based on “rumours and stuff flying around on the internet”.

“You’ve got a crazy situation at the moment where you have African countries turning away the AstraZeneca vaccine on the basis it may have health problems,” Mr Blair told Sky News on Monday.

“The health problems from getting Covid are self-evidently greater than the problems you may get in a very, very limited number of cases, for example, blood clots.”

In February, South Africa sold supplies of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to other African Union member states after a trial showed the shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the South African coronavirus variant.

Mr Blair did not identify which other African countries had declined to use AstraZeneca’s drug.

His comments came as Unicef said on Monday that G7 countries and the EU could donate 150 million Covid-19 vaccine doses while maintaining their own inoculation campaigns.

A study by British company Airfinity showed the countries could help close the world’s vaccine gap by sharing just 20 per cent of their June, July and August stocks with the Covax scheme for donated supplies.

"And they could do this while still fulfilling their vaccination commitments to their own populations," Unicef director Henrietta Fore said.

You've got a crazy situation at the moment where you have African countries turning away the AstraZeneca vaccine

The UK is due to host its fellow G7 member states Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US for a summit in June.

Unicef said that by then, the Covax programme, co-led by Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organisation, would find itself 190 million doses short of its planned supplies.

The shortfall is in part due to a devastating surge of the virus in India, which was due to manufacture and export the majority of Covax doses but is now using its supply domestically.

With additional shortages in supplies and funding, Unicef called for swift action until more sustainable production models are within reach.

"Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stopgap measure, and it is needed right now," it said.

Mr Blair said only 30 million doses had been delivered to Africa, a continent with a 1.2 billion population.

“The biggest problem we have now is that even if we do everything (in the UK) … the problem is that variants can come back into our own country and you see this with the India variant now,” he said.

“The important thing is at the same time we vaccinate our own people, what we do is set up a detailed plan for the international community to maximise production and distribute to all parts of the world.”

The US has 60 million AstraZeneca doses it could share, while France has pledged 500,000 doses and Sweden 1 million, with Switzerland considering a similar donation.

About 44 per cent of the 1.4 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines administered globally have been in high-income countries accounting for 16 per cent of the world’s population.

An Indian relative sits with a patient being treated for the coronavirus in the emergency ward at the BDM Government Hospital, which is currently treating 50 coronavirus cases across three wards designated for covid patients in Kotputli, Jaipur District, Rajasthan, India. Getty Images

Men sit on a handcart along a street during a government imposed travel restrictions and weekend lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus in Colombo. AFP

Healthcare workers navigate flooded streets to reach residents in order to vaccinate with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, in Anama, Amazonas state, Brazil. AP Photo

Relatives carry a dead body past shallow graves covered with saffron clothes of suspected Covid-19 coronavirus vicitims near a cremation ground on the banks of the Ganges River in Shringverpur village, around 40 Km from Allahabad. AFP

People take photos as the Christ the Redeemer statue is seen with the message "Vaccine Saves" projected, to make the population aware of the importance of the coronavirus disease vaccine, promoted by the United Vaccine Movement, in Rio de Janeiro. Reuters

Soldiers disinfect Wanhua district, an area that has one of the most cases of coronavirus disease in the city, in Taipei, Taiwan. Reuters

Pupils undergo salivary swabs, at the primary school of Travagliato, near Brescia, Italy. These salivary swab tests are like a lollipop candy to hold in the mouth for a minute, and the exam is done. This is the new salivary test to identify the infection from Covid-19. EPA

People queue to buy takeaway meals, as tables and chairs are cordoned off to prevent people from dining, at a hawker food centre in Singapore, on the first day of increased restrictions over concerns in a rise in the number of Covid-19 coronavirus cases. AFP

Police officers evict groups of more than six people at Barceloneta beach, as the state of emergency decreed by the Spanish Government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus was lifted a week ago in Barcelona, Spain. Reuters

Only 0.3 per cent have been administered in the 29 lowest-income countries, home to nine per cent of the world's population, Unicef said.

The gap spurred World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to ask vaccine-wealthy nations to refrain from inoculating children and adolescents and instead donate doses to Covax.

Unicef reiterated the need to vaccinate poorer populations prevent more contagious and deadlier variants from wiping out progress towards immunity.

"We are concerned that the deadly spike in India is a precursor to what will happen if those warnings remain unheeded," it said.

"Cases are exploding and health systems are struggling in countries near – like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives – and far, like Argentina and Brazil."