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Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA | The African Union (AU) on Monday said the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has posed serious impacts on the African continent’s health, security, and socio-economic conditions.
“The present COVID-19 pandemic has serious health, security, and economic impact for the continent,” the AU said in a statement issued on Monday, as it emphasized that vaccines are a potent public health tools and Africa “needs to actively engage in the development, evaluation and access to potential COVID-19 vaccine development, clinical trial, and define issues related to access.
Amid the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the African continent and beyond, the AU also on Monday stressed that “an effective vaccine will help save lives and economies and ensure that we return gradually to normalcy both in Africa and globally.”
“Continental collaboration and coordination will be critical for the development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19,” an AU statement read.
On February 22, 2020, Africa developed a COVID-19 Joint Continental Strategy with three major pillars that are limiting the COVID-19 transmission, prevent deaths, and limit harm.
According to the AU, the strategy is underpinned by the need to coordinate, cooperate, collaborate and communicate.
The AU also stressed that Africa’s leadership role “will complement global investment in the enormous task and ensure that there will be access and equity to available vaccines,” as such a continental framework is needed for large-scale manufacturing, clinical trials and access to potential COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.
The need for Africa to develop a framework for the continent to actively engage in the development and access to potential effective COVID-19 vaccines was endorsed at the Bureau of the Assembly of the AU Heads of State and Government and chairperson of the AU regional economic communities during a high-level virtual meeting held last week.
As part of implementing Africa’s Joint Continental Strategy to combat COVID-19, the AU Commission and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) will also on June 24 host a virtual conference to discuss Africa’s leadership role in enabling the development, access and equity to a COVID-19 vaccine.
The conference, among other things, is expected to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and the development and equitable access to vaccines as part of the COVID-19 Joint Continental Strategy to limit transmission, reduce deaths and limit harm.
The expected outcome of the conference is also said to be a framework for Africa’s leadership in the development and access of COVID-19 vaccines, which will help complement the WHO’s ACT Accelerator initiative.
According to the latest figures from the Africa CDC, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent reached 306,567 as of Monday afternoon as the death toll from the pandemic also rose to 8,115.
The Africa CDC, which noted that the virus had spread into 54 African countries, said that some 146,212 people who were infected with COVID-19 had recovered across the continent as of the stated period. Enditem
