The new initiative was presented at a summit jointly organized by France, the African Union and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
World leaders met Thursday in Paris to launch a new initiative aimed atincrease vaccine production in Africa and confront the great inequalities that came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) is a new financial mechanism that will provide about 1 billion euros in ten years to support the African vaccine manufacturers.
The goal: manufacture 60% of vaccines in Africa
It was officially launched at a global forum co-sponsored by Francethe African Union and the international vaccine organization Gavi. The new funds will contribute to the African Union’s goal of manufacture at least 60% of the necessary vaccine doses on the continent by 2040, according to Gavi.
It is also intended to address the major inequalities of the COVID-19 pandemicin which African countries had difficulties in accessing vaccines bought by the richest countries.
Although African countries represent almost 20% of the world’s population, according to Gavi they only produce 0.2% of the world’s vaccine supply.
Priority for malaria, cholera and measles vaccines
The new funds will offset the high vaccine production costswith greater incentives for manufacturers that produce priority vaccines such as those of malaria, cholera and measles.
The European Union announced on Thursday that the Member States will contribute more than 750 million of euros to the AVMA, of which almost 220 million will come from the community budget. This makes EU countries the largest contributors to this financial instrument.
United for a common cause
“Our decisions today and in the coming months will be decisive factors in determining whether we can look back from the vantage point of 2030 with pride and satisfaction or whether we will look back with anguish at the missed opportunities and untapped potential“, declared José Barroso, president of the board of directors of Gavi and former president of the European Commissionin his opening speech at the forum on Thursday, June 20.
Barroso stated that the forum was an opportunity to “unite for a common cause” and contribute to a “new era of immunization and equity.”
Moussa Faki, president of the African Union Commission, He stated in an inaugural speech that there is a “multiplicity of crises” in Africa.
“Our strength is to unite our voices and efforts to change this intolerable situation,” he said, adding that the COVID-19 and other crises showed that “African resistance is not enough.”
Faki pointed out that the African continent depended largely on expensive vaccine imports and that local manufacturing would save countries money.
The pharmaceutical industry in Africa
He stated that the new financing mechanism would help accelerate access to vaccines and their distributionbeing a “catalyst for the pharmaceutical industry in Africa.”
The forum comes shortly after countries failed in their attempt to reach a pandemic agreement in the World Health Assembly held in May, due to disagreements over how to share technology and how to address global health inequalities.
But diplomats and experts declared this month to ‘Euronews Health’ that they were motivated to continue discussing a possible treaty and hoped that countries would be able to bridge their differences.
According to European Comission, AVMA funds will allow acquire more than 800 million doses of vaccines produced in Africa over the next decade.
“The initiative will diversify the set of global suppliers of vaccines with the aim of at least four African vaccine manufacturers entering the market on a sustainable basis,” the Commission stated.
