The Twitterverse was abuzz with conversations about Covid-19, as our Twitter data reports show. Between April and August, the period in which we analyzed conversations, the Delta variant broke out in 22 countries; Uganda’s National Drug Authority (NDA) announced that a local herbal medicine had been approved for use as supporting treatment for viral infections, including COVID-19 and the African Union signed an agreement to buy 20 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

These five accounts were at the forefront of sharing news and updates, including about vaccination and vaccines. They all belong to news journalists and editors that report on Africa.

1. Shen Shiwei
@Shen_Shiwei is the Beijing-based international news editor and current events commentator for the China Global Television Network. He has 50.7k followers. He posted 55 tweets about vaccines and vaccination in Africa, most of them are news and updates about China-led efforts to deliver vaccines around Africa. China pledged in July to support Africa’s vaccination drive, donating and selling vaccines to 19 nations. The tweet that got the most engagement shared the news that “The Chinese People's Liberation Army #PLA delivered a new batch of COVID-19 vaccines to the Army of #Ethiopia on 19th Aug., Chinese Ministry of Defense confirmed. @TToga9 @mfaethiopia”. It was liked by 690 accounts and shared 290 times.

2. Sophie Mokoena
Johannesburg-based @Sophie_Mokoena is the foreign editor for SABC, the largest broadcaster in Africa. She published 44 posts that ranged from breaking news, analysis and personal opinions to 144.9K followers. The tweet that had her followers talking more than others was made in April when she shared politician Julius Malema’s sentiments about vaccines from China. “Zimbabwe is using CO VID-19 vaccine from China to vaccinate its population. They have not reported any blood clots cases. Get COVID-19 vaccine from China. @Julius_S_Malema”. South Africa had only vaccinated 0.5 percent of its population at the time.

3. Samira Sawlani
@samirasawlani is a London-based freelance journalist and commentator with an audience of 112.5k followers. She shared 31 posts with breaking news, commentary and updates on which country was getting more vaccination doses, which ones were lagging and what commentators were saying about vaccine inequality and hesitancy. The tweet that resonated the most quoted the director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus. “Some people were asking me about vaccine hesitancy in Africa. I said- there is no vaccine, so why do we talk about hesitancy. The problem is vaccine supply. The injustice. The inequality. We need vaccines now”- WHO DG @DrTedros speaking earlier today. It was shared by more than 1.600 accounts and got 3370 likes. The low number of vaccinated people in Africa was partially blamed on vaccine hesitancy.

4. Charles Onyango-Obbo
One of the biggest stories related to Covid-19 vaccinations was news that Johnson & Johnson was sending vaccines that were bottled and packaged in South Africa to Europe, while South Africa was still waiting for the company to deliver its supply of 31 million doses — news that @cobbo3 shared as one of 26 vaccination-related tweets he posted. Onyango-Obbo is a Ugandan journalist and writer based in Toronto and Nairobi. The European Commission said it would return the vaccines to South Africa after backlash from South African activists.

5. Joseph Cotterill
The Southern Africa correspondent for the Financial Times, @jsphctrl, shared 25 tweets about vaccines and vaccinations in Africa, mainly about vaccines roll out, including a press release that became his most engaged Tweet. “Sibanye Stillwater, one of South Africa's biggest miners, has received accreditation to administer Covid vaccines at four of its medical sites. A sign of how workplaces are about to join SA's mass rollout,” he reported to 33.7k followers.

You can read the full report here.