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French President Emmanuel Macron said the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator would be an essential step towards a genuine African vaccine market. He further added that Africa produces only 2% of the vaccines it uses while the goal set is that by 2040, that production will increase to 60%.
World leaders, health groups, and pharmaceutical firms announced USD 1.2 billion in funding to produce vaccines in Africa. This comes after the discussions at the Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation held in Paris yesterday (Thursday).
Speaking at the gathering, French President Emmanuel Macron said the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator would be an essential step towards a genuine African vaccine market. He further added that Africa produces only 2% of the vaccines it uses while the goal set is that by 2040, that production will increase to 60%.
Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye told delegates that the recent resurgence of cholera in many parts of Africa has highlighted the need for more local vaccine producers. More than four years ago Covid strongly disrupted our health systems and endangered the vaccination programs that were pushed into the background because of the necessity to fight the pandemic.
“According to the UNICEF report of 2021, at the height of the pandemic, 23 million children didn’t receive the basic vaccines necessary for their normal development. The Gavi vaccine alliance, which helps distribute jabs for more than 20 different diseases to poorer countries, announced it is hoping to raise US$9 billion for its vaccine programs. Gavi Vaccine Alliance was one of the organizers of the forum.
Gavi says the project aims to make up to USD 1 billion available over the next 10 years to help boost Africa’s manufacturing base, to improve global vaccine markets and preparedness and response to pandemics and disease outbreaks. The Geneva-based alliance says the accelerator will inject funds into manufacturers in Africa once they hit supply and regulatory milestones, to use market forces to drive down prices and encourage investment upstream.
France, in collaboration with the African Union (AU) and GAVI (the Vaccine Alliance), aims to raise over a billion US dollars to speed up the manufacturing of vaccines in Africa.
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The event has brought together African heads of state, health ministers from various regions, the Director of the WHO, and leaders from the pharmaceutical industry. During the forum, the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) was officially launched to help African countries achieve vaccine independence by producing 60% of their required doses by 2040.
