ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
The African Union (AU) has announced the launch of a partnership to manufacture vaccines at five research centers to be built on the continent within the next 15 years.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations (CEPI), which helps run the global COVAX coronavirus
vaccine-sharing programme with the public-private alliance Gavi and the World
Health Organization (WHO), signed a memorandum of understanding to boost
African vaccine research and development as well as manufacturing.
The five centres will be located in the north,
south, east, west and centre of Africa over the next 10-15 years, according to
John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), an AU agency.
“Trusted partnership will be critical in
advancing the vaccine manufacturing agenda on the continent,” he said on
Tuesday after a two-day virtual meeting. “The partnership with CEPI symbolises
cooperation and collaboration to help respond to infectious disease threats and
ensure Africa’s health security.”
The target is to produce locally within 20
years 60 percent of all vaccines used on the continent – compared with one
percent today.
“We are aware that it is a challenge,” said
Nkengasong, but added: “If Africa does not plan to address its vaccine security
needs today, then we are absolutely setting ourselves for failure.”
According to WHO, Africa sits on the
“sidelines” of the vaccination drive against COVID-19, with only two percent of
the world’s total vaccines administered on the continent.
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Richard Hatchett, chief executive of CEPI,
said: “Together we can strengthen Africa’s capacity to prevent, detect and
respond to emerging and re-emerging infectious threats.
“By building regional resilience and
strengthening health security on the continent we can mitigate the
disproportionate health and economic impacts that epidemic infectious diseases
can have on populations in low and middle-income countries.”
Current AU chair Felix Tshisekedi said
“sufficient funds will be required, legislative harmonisation in Africa and
incentives” as he called on the members of the diaspora worldwide “to help
strengthen the medicine and vaccine production capacities in Africa”.
The project “will not just fight against
COVID-19 but see the establishment of vaccine production for known illnesses
and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics,” said Tshisekedi, who is also
the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Africa has so far been the least-affected
continent by the pandemic, with 4.3 million cases recorded, including 114,000
deaths in an overall population of 1.2 billion, according to WHO figures.
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