France, Feb. 13 -- Supply agreements for Covid-19 vaccines to help protect people in African countries arefar from adequate, without enough doses to vaccinate enough of the continent's population to provide herd immunity. Thequestionremains how cash-strapped African governments will fund this.

African states have three main ways of securing supplies for Covid-19 vaccines - directly with pharmaceutical companies, through the COVAX facility, a global initiative, and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) set up by the African Union regional bloc.

Few cash-strapped African countries have the financial means to compete with rich countries also battling to obtain vital coronavirus vaccines. Plus, there are few big pharma companies...