Paris, Aug 30 (AP) France said it will provide 10 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African countries over the next three months.

France and the African Union announced in a statement on Monday a “new partnership” allowing Paris to deliver some additional AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.

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The African Union's Vaccine Acquisition Trust will be in charge of distributing the doses, in coordination with the global COVAX program, a U.N.-backed effort to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have fair access to the shots.

The African Union's initiative so far was able to buy enough doses to vaccinate 400 million people, or one third of the African population, by September 2022, at a cost of USD 3 billion, the statement said.

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France promised to share at least 60 million doses before the end of the year with poorest countries. It was the first rich country to donate COVID-19 vaccines via COVAX in April when it gave more than 100,000 doses to Mauritania. (AP)

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