Issued on:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Friday the launch of a Covid-19 vaccine production programme in Africa. Six countries (South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia) will be equipped with production lines to manufacture doses of mRNA vaccines, in an initiative aimed at reducing the continent’s reliance on vaccine imports and boosting low immunisation rates.
FRANCE 24 spoke to Professor Yap Boum, representative of Epicentre, the research arm of Doctors Without Borders, about the evolution of the pandemic on the continent.
A strong advocate for vaccine equality, the UN organisation is concerned about the slow deployment of jabs on the African continent, where only 11.3% of the population is fully vaccinated – despite a considerable increase in doses in recent months.
“Vaccination rates must increase sixfold if the continent is to reach the 70% coverage target set for the end of the first semester of 2022,” the WHO warned in early February.
FRANCE 24 spoke to Professor Yap Boum, representative of Epicentre, the research arm of Doctors Without Borders, about the evolution of the pandemic in Africa and the continent’s vaccine rollout.
FRANCE 24: The announcement of this vaccine production programme against Covid-19 has been hailed as an “event of historic importance” by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Do you share his enthusiasm?
Yap Boum: This is indeed a very important announcement in many ways. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed Africa’s over-reliance on global health supplies, with 98% of its vaccines coming from abroad. In this context, Africa, at the mercy of donor goodwill and external production imperatives, has experienced delays in immunising its population. We saw this when India was hit by a sudden Covid-19 outbreak and had to curtail its exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine through…
Source : france24
