Frustrated, now Africa proposes that vaccines be produced locally
South African paramedics wheel a man showing symptoms of Covid-19 into an isolation chamber. South Africa-based manufacturers have lent hope that the continent has capacity to manufacture Covid vaccines. PHOTO | AFP
Details have emerged of continued frustration by vaccine manufacturers in sending Covid-19 vaccines to Africa, a crisis that has given the African Union the impetus to become autonomous by having vaccines manufactured on the continent.
Even though the continent will only be involved in the last steps in the manufacturing process of the vaccines known as “fill and finish”, African Union Special Envoy for African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), Strive Masiyiwa, said this would be a step towards ending the vaccine apartheid that has rocked the globe pitting industrialised nations against poor ones like Africa.
