The World Bank and development agencies from France, Germany and the United States of America (USA) announced on Wednesday a 600 million euro package to boost the production of covid-19 vaccines in Africa.
The support package is for the South African pharmaceutical company Aspen and aims to boost vaccine production on the African continent against the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
“The announcement of the financial package for Aspen came at the same time as calls from African governments to the international community to support the continental vaccine supply chain to respond to covid-19 and increase the long-term resilience of the health sector,” said a statement from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), quoted by Efe news agency.
Of the 600 million euros, 200 million come from the IFC, 156 million from the French financial institution Proparco, a subsidiary of the French Development Agency, 144 million from Germany’s development finance institution, and 100 million from the US development agency.
Aspen, the largest pharmaceutical company in Africa, is already playing a key role in the production of covid-19 vaccines on the continent through an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to perform final blending and packaging of its formulation at a plant in southeast South Africa.
The vaccines produced will be distributed by the African Union, the South African government and the Covax program, according to a statement issued by the U.S. State Department.
Africa is currently facing a third wave of covid-19, stimulated in many countries by the spread of the Delta variant.
The health situation has become more complicated in countries such as Uganda, Zambia, and Namibia, with South Africa, which has the largest numbers on the continent, being some of the worst affected in Africa in what is considered the third wave of the pandemic.
