This archive report was first published on 2 July 2021.
Published on July 2, 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed Africa's vulnerability to vaccine shortages. With only 1.5% of 2.7 billion doses administered on the continent, the need for self-reliance in vaccine production and research has become increasingly urgent.
The Sisulu Foundation for African and pandemic disease response, a collaboration of African scientists and institutions, has been hailed as a critical step towards making Africa self-reliant in training, research, and vaccine production. This foundation will serve as a platform for research, training, and innovation, allowing African scientists to contribute to solving the continent's health challenges.
At the KAVI Institute for Clinical Research at the University of Nairobi's College of Health Sciences, critical research on human vaccines continues. Lead scientists explore different aspects of the body's immune response, including how antibodies are produced to fight various diseases.
Professor Walter Jaoko, Director of KAVI, emphasized the importance of conducting trials and generating immune responses from people who have received the vaccine. 'We are conducting trials with regard to the vaccine, we are actually conducting COVID-19 vaccine trials, we are also generating the immune responses from people who have received the vaccine in the routine government vaccination,' he said.
Kenya is also considering setting up a fill and finish vaccine site to become more self-reliant in vaccine supply and distribution. So far, 1,417,100 doses have been administered in the country, with only 1.56% of adults being fully vaccinated.
The World Bank, IMF, WHO, and WTO have called upon G20 countries to vaccinate at least 40% of their populations by the end of 2021 and 60% by the first half of 2022. They have also urged G20 countries to share at least 1 billion doses with developing countries in 2021, provide financing, and remove barriers to vaccine export and supply chain operations.
