Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Africa: Current Considerations and Future Projections.

The burden of severe Covid-19 has been relatively low in sib-Saharan Africa compared to Europe and the Americas. However, SARS-CoV-2 sero-prevalence data has demonstrated that there has been more widespread transmission than can be deduced from reported cases. This could be attributed to under reporting due to low testing capacity or high numbers of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in communities. Recent data indicates that prior SARS-CoV-2 exposure is protective against reinfection and that vaccination of previously SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals induces robust cross-reactive antibody responses. Considering these data, calls for a need for a re-think of the COVID-19 vaccination strategy in sub-Saharan African settings with high SARSCoV-2 population exposure but limited available vaccine doses. A potential recommendation would be to prioritize rapid and widespread vaccination of the first dose, while waiting for more vaccines to become available.

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© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Potential conflicts of interest. B. K. participates in a DSMB for a COVID-19 vaccine and has advised the COVAX group on use of COVID vaccines in pregnant women. She also directs the vaccine center at LSHTM and the IMPRINT network. She also holds several grants for vaccine research studies outside of COVID-19 vaccines. E. U. claims participation in a PaTs COVID drug trial and held a position on the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group, The Gambia. I. A. received an African Research Leader Fellowship grant (MR/S005293/1) and NIHR-MPRU at UCL grant (2268427 LSHTM) and has also participated in the WHO Programme Advisory Group, Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, the WHO Technical Advisory Group, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, and WHO Africa Region, Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group. O. T. I. is currently an employee of Sanofi Pasteur. All views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect those of her employer. All other authors report no potential conflicts.