Africa’s ability to produce its own vaccines has received a boost with the announcement that the United States will invest in South Africa and Senegal for vaccine production.
In the meantime, the United States will deliver three brands of covid-19 vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson&Johnson, to African nations as from August.
Gayle Smith, State Department Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security, said this on Wednesday during a digital press briefing on the US donations of COVID-19 vaccines to the African Union.
It will be recalled that a collaboration between the African Union (AU), COVAX and the United States Government will deliver approximately 25 million COVID-19 vaccines to AU Member States.
The donations are a result of the pledge made by President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, in May to share 80 million doses globally.
Speaking on the type of vaccines to be donated, Smith at the briefing said: “The kinds of vaccines that we are providing are Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J. And there is an entire process in actually sharing vaccines. It’s not quite as easy as us just putting them on a plane and sending them and someone picking them up at the other end. We go through a detailed legal and regulatory process with host governments to make sure that that vaccine is approved in a given country, because each country does its own approval process, and so on and so forth.
“So it’s anticipated that these would complement existing programs and that where we can be consistent – if a country is already using Moderna, if we can provide Moderna there we try to do that. We can’t always do that, but those are the three that we are focused on. And we did this also in tandem and in consultation with the AU and COVAX because, importantly, as I think you may know, the AU itself purchased a significant number of Johnson & Johnson doses months ago, and those will be rolling out in August as well. We wanted to make sure that between and among us, we’ve got tight coordination between the United States, the African Union, and COVAX. “But those are the three that we provide.”
Gayle also said the United States is working with Senegal and South Africa to begin vaccine production on the African continent.
“Let me just mention quickly one of the things we’re doing, is that we believe that, for now and for the future, it’s important that Africa produce vaccines for its own consumptions rather than being dependent on having to import those in the majority of its medical requirements. So we’re investing through our Development Finance Corporation right now in South Africa and Senegal in increased vaccine production and will be making other investments – again, to help increase the number of COVID vaccines available, but to increase over time Africa’s ability to produce its own vaccines.”
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