President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on global agencies to assist in boosting the local manufacturing and production of COVID-19 vaccines by procuring vaccines and boosters from African manufacturers.<\/P>
The President was speaking in his capacity as the AU Champion for COVID-19 Response on Thursday at the second Global Summit on COVID-19.<\/P>
The continent\u2019s largest COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plant opened in South Africa last year, and mRNA hubs for tech transfer have been opened in South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Kenya and Nigeria.<\/P>
In February the AU Summit endorsed a common agenda for manufacturing vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, therapeutics and health products on the continent.<\/P>
However, the President said that this progress may be reversed because international agencies are not buying vaccines from Africa, even those destined for African countries.<\/P>
\u201cThis must change. Multilateral agencies and philanthropists need to be procuring vaccines and boosters from African manufacturers to ensure the developing capabilities on the continent are retained,\u201d he said.<\/P>
President Ramaphosa further called on the international community to ensure that solidarity and equity underpin the next phase in the world\u2019s management of the pandemic.<\/P>
\u201cThis means that vaccines produced in Africa must be procured for Africa\u2019s people. This is vital for the continent\u2019s health security now and into the future,\u201d he said.<\/P>
Low vaccination rates<\/P>
To avoid a return to the catastrophic early days of the pandemic, President Ramaphosa said that there is a need to get many more people across the world vaccinated.<\/P>
\u201cWe need to expand access to testing and treatment. The global health recovery will not be inclusive so long as millions of people in developing economies remain unvaccinated.<\/P>
\u201cAfrica has one of the world\u2019s lowest vaccination rates at 16%, and coverage in low income countries is still under 13%,\u201d the President said.<\/P>
President Ramaphosa emphasised that African leaders are committed to achieving 70% vaccine coverage through mass campaigns across the continent.<\/P>
He further said they continue to advocate for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to improve global access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.<\/P>
\u201cTo get more life-saving vaccines to those in need, South Africa is donating five million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 10 million doses of the J&J vaccine to other African countries.<\/P>
\u201cSouth Africa has contributed $10 million to the Global Fund and plans to contribute financial support to the ACT-Accelerator,\u201d he said.<\/P>
Speaking on the low COVID-19 testing rates, President Ramaphosa said that African Union (AU) member states have committed to a target of 200 million SARS-COV-2 tests by the end of 2022.<\/P>
This commitment will be coupled with the implementation of the Africa CDC’s Enhanced Surveillance Strategy for community-based testing, wastewater testing and sentinel surveillance.<\/P>
The President said countries need to be better prepared for future health crises and generate the financing to do so.<\/P>
The international community is working towards a swift social and economic recovery, but the threat of new waves and the emergence of new variants is ever-present.<\/P>
\u201cSouth Africa therefore supports the formation of the Financial Intermediary Fund as a mechanism to finance global health security,\u201d he said. <\/P>
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Source: South African Government News Agency<\/P>
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President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on global agencies to assist in boosting the local manufacturing and production of COVID-19 vaccines by procuring vaccines and boosters from African manufacturers.The President was speaking in his capacity as the AU…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n