Only 17 per cent of the continent's population will now be vaccinated by the end of this year, compared with the 40 per cent target set by the WHO, the global agency's Africa unit said at its weekly briefing in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville.

"The staggering inequity and severe lag in shipments of vaccines threatens to turn areas in Africa... into breeding grounds for vaccine-resistant variants," said WHO's Africa director Matshidiso Moeti. "This could end up sending the whole world back to square one."

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