A global forum in Paris to support vaccine production in Africa

Those gathered at the Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Vaccine Innovation, held in Paris, decided to allocate more than $1 billion to accelerate vaccine production in Africa.

French President Emmanuel Macron said at the opening of the forum that this funding, worth about $1.2 billion, which was presented as a “boost for vaccine production in Africa, will be a basic building block for building a real African vaccine market.”

The President of France, the host of this forum, in which four African presidents (Botswana, Rwanda, Senegal, and Ghana) are participating, and about 30 ministers and representatives of international organizations, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and banks, confirmed that the European Commission will secure “three-quarters of this amount.”

Germany will contribute $318 million to this mechanism, according to what German Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained via video call. France pledged to provide $100 million and the United Kingdom $60 million, as did other contributors, such as the United States, Canada, Norway, Japan, and the Bill Gates Foundation.

For his part, Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said that this mechanism “could become an incentive to strengthen the pharmaceutical industry in Africa and enhance cooperation among member states,” while “the continent continues to import 99% of its vaccines at exorbitant costs.”

The "Global Forum on Vaccine Sovereignty and Vaccine Innovation", co-organized by France, the African Union and the GAVI Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, aims to give a boost to vaccine manufacturers in Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the issue of unequal access to vaccines on the African continent four years ago. Thus, local production is seen throughout the world as a response to future pandemics.

The African Union has set a goal of covering 60% of its vaccine needs through local production by 2040.

The GAVI Alliance (an organization that helps low-income countries provide vaccines against dozens of epidemics and contributes to strengthening their health sovereignty) has vaccinated one billion children since 2000.

-Cholera- The head of the GAVI coalition, Jose Manuel Barroso, who participated in the forum, said, “There are still millions of children who have not been vaccinated against a single disease at all,” while “hundreds of millions of other children need access to more vaccines.”

The GAVI alliance will need “$9 billion” for the new financing campaign for vaccination programs between 2026 and 2030, according to what Sania Nishtar, director of the alliance, told donors attending the forum.

The coalition aims to vaccinate an additional billion children by 2030 thanks to donor support.

“We must continue to invest in vaccination, which can be one of the solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, wars and economic fragility,” said Marie-Ange Saraka Yao, Head of Finance at GAVI.

The official added that this includes "accelerating the process of introducing new vaccines and expanding the distribution of routine vaccines" such as vaccines against malaria, a disease transmitted by mosquito bites that kills 500,000 children every year, most of them in Africa, and vaccinating "more than 120 million girls over the next few years." Against cervical cancer.

Emphasis will also be placed on financing cholera vaccines, the production of which must continue to be increased to address the shortage. Also, a prevention campaign against Ebola was recently launched, primarily among caregivers.

Macron called for "making cholera a thing of the past" as the epidemic is currently spreading in "half of Africa's countries."

France is being criticized for not taking the necessary measures to avoid the spread of cholera in its Mayotte department.

The French President announced that a “production line for cholera vaccines in Africa” could be deployed by the South African Biovac laboratory, whose investments will be supported on a “priority basis” through the new financial mechanism.

The French group Sanofi announced on Thursday that it had entered into a partnership with the South African Biovac laboratories, to enhance the production capabilities of anti-polio vaccines in Africa.