Africa must start producing Covid-19 vaccines because it is lagging behind in efforts to vaccinate 60 percent of its 1.3 billion people at a time when the continent has surpassed four million infections, the director of the African Union’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention argued last week.
African countries are receiving vaccines through the international Covax initiative and from vaccine producers such as India, China and Russia, but much larger volumes of doses are needed for the massive campaign to inoculate more than half the continent’s population, stressed John Nkengasong, director of the African Union’s specialized agency (Africa CDC).
At least five African countries appear to have the capacity to produce vaccines – South Africa, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, according to Nkengasong, who was speaking at the Africa CDC’s weekly Thursday press conference, held digitally from the organization’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to the official, a meeting between the African Union and some external partners is scheduled for April 12 to create a “roadmap” to boost African capacity to produce anti-Covid-19 vaccines.
Birgitte Markussen, head of the European Union’s diplomatic representation to the AU, was also present at the Africa CDC briefing, where she assured that “efforts will be made to support local production” of vaccines.
At least 22 of the AU’s 55 members have received anti-Covid-19 vaccines through the Covax initiative, according to Nkengasong. The continent is expected to receive about 600 million doses of vaccine.
