Global pharmaceutical firms should license the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa to boost the fight against the pandemic, announced African Union (AU) special envoy Strive Masiyiwa.
Masiyiwa said during a weekly press conference of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that authorities are now ready to facilitate the production of coronavirus vaccines in Africa.
“We want to make clear to all suppliers ... if you want a long-term future with us now, you produce from Africa,” Masiyiwa said
He pointed out that in the past few weeks, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team discussed with the European countries the delivery of the vaccine material instead of donations.
The Europeans agreed to ship the vaccine materials to African facilities.
“We appreciate this step because we want to increase production in the continent. We will not solve this crisis through donations. We need production,” stressed Masiyiwa.
J&J is on track to supply members of the African Union with 400 million vaccine doses by September next year, he added.
Africa aims to vaccinate 60 percent of its population by 2022.
Around 6 million doses will be delivered to 27 nations that have paid their share through the end of August, Masiyiwa said, with another 18 finalizing loans from the World Bank and other global lenders before they make payment.
Deliveries will rise to an average of 10 million a month from September, increasing to 20 million in January until the order is fulfilled by September next year.
Meanwhile, Nigeria recorded another death from the coronavirus and 272 new infections across nine states of the federation, according to the Nigerian newspaper Premium Times.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) indicated that Lagos again topped the infection chart with 182 cases.
The new cases raised the total number of infections in the country to 170,895. The total death toll is now 2,132, with one fatality recorded on Saturday.
