What Will It Take for Africa to Achieve Vaccine Independence?

What Will It Take for Africa to Achieve Vaccine Independence?

According to the World Health Organization, only 3 percent of Covid-19 vaccine doses delivered in 2021 were given to Africa, despite the continent being home to a fifth of the world’s population. Africa was left behind in the global vaccine inequity debacle and had the least bargaining power to negotiate contracts.

African leaders pledged to ensure that this would never happen again, and high-income nations and philanthropic organizations promised to help fund efforts to make vaccine access more equitable. There were numerous announcements of new partnerships and investments, including plans to modernize existing pharmaceutical manufacturing operations in Africa, build new ones, send shipping containers from Europe with pop-up facilities to produce mRNA vaccines, and establish an mRNA production incubator that would distribute open-source technology throughout the continent.

While some of the hype has died down, there are indications of genuine progress. However,…

2023-04-25 05:55:23
Link from www.nytimes.com

Exit mobile version