Africa launched a new era of vaccine sovereignty this week, when government and industry leaders convened in Addis Ababa to map out a vaccine manufacturing strategy for the continent. At the meeting, the AU announced a partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to establish five vaccine production sites (one each in North, East, West, Southern and Central Africa). Covid-19 has made it clear that Africa cannot depend on donors to meet its vaccine and medicine needs. Similar protests are being heard today from pharmaceutical companies and wealthy countries opposed to sharing vaccine patents and technology to allow for generic vaccine production. A state-backed South African vaccine company, the BioVac Institute, recently signed a contract with US-based ImmunityBio to manufacture coronavirus vaccines.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 14, 2021 10:29 UTC