CoDA set to commission team to oversee vaccine production process in Africa

Amid the spike here in Kenya, there is renewed hope for the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.

The University of Nairobi has now been identified as one of 17 such institutions that will play a key role in this effort.

The announcement came as the coalition for dialogue in Africa, in the African Union, was preparing to launch an independent task team to oversee the plan.

The African continent has for the last one year depended on the COVAX facility and recently the goodwill of the European nations to access vaccines to COVID-19.

That will change if the considerations and plans by key stakeholders in the continent is put into action.

“We need at least 250 – 300 million dollars to start off production of vaccines…. we are told this is an unsurmountable amount of money……. if we put our minds together can we not raise this amount…. can this be a barrier…..to action towards vaccine production in Africa,” Prof. Sylvian Boko a Global Economist poses.

According to global health experts, Africa holds a greater genetic diversity, better than any other continent, a fact that supports the continent’s goal in production of its own vaccines.

“Candidates for vaccines RNA material development of genomic data greater than any other continent in the world, we have a better plan to expound on that than any other planet…. very few continents can do that RNA component” Dr. Philip Onyebujoh – an international public health expert/immunologist says.

With the deliberations having being anchored on these major pointers, the coalition for dialogue on Africa in the African Union is set to launch an independent task team on the development of vaccines and vaccination in Africa.

A launch that will see 17 African universities, including the University of Nairobi, and other stakeholders commit to making the dream a reality.