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Published December 06,2021
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African health officials said on Monday they aim for the continent to expand its vaccine production as soon as possible, amid persistent inequities in the distribution of the jabs worldwide.
Currently, only 1 per cent of vaccines used in Africa are made in the region.
“Omicron is a wake-up call,” said John Nkengasong of the African Centre for Infectious Diseases at a conference in Kigali.
He said the African Union (AU) seeks to produce 60 per cent of the vaccines needed in Africa by 2040. Developing the continent’s vaccine production is not only necessary to combat Covid-19 but also other diseases such as malaria or Ebola, he said.
Some progress has been made since the AU set up the African Medical Agency (AMA) eight months ago, according to Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
So far, however, only 7 per cent of people in Africa are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“We cannot wait any more, we need to break this dependancy, we have to strenghten our health ecosystem,” said the AU’s AMA commissioner, Michel Sidibe.
Africa, which spent 16 billion dollars on its pharmaceutical products in 2019, according to AU figures, now offers investment opportunities, he said. Countries such as Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda are pioneers, while Kenya and Nigeria are also ready to move forward, he said.
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