QEF: Ramaphosa, Kagame urge vaccine equity to meet Africa''s COVID-19 vaccination need

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) South Africa’s President H E Cyril Ramaphosa has called for more decentralized manufacturing of vaccines to fight the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccination programmes for developing countries. In an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) yesterday, the South African President said, ''We see their refusal to waive this intellectual property provision as part of vaccine nationalism, and we just don’t understand the sense of it all,” he said.  South Africa and India had requested the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and technology.  ''All we are asking for together with India a waiver for a three-year period to enable countries that have the capability to produce the vaccines.” However, several of the WTO’s more prominent members continue to withhold their support for vaccine waiver. ''The continued refusal leads to inequity on vaccines. We are facing an emergency that has affected the entire world. It is totally unfair and wholly unjust that pharmaceutical companies, as well as certain countries, are refusing to allow this provision to be waived so that there can be mass production of these vaccines so that we can save lives,” Ramaphosa said. ''I think it is selfish; it is unjust and wholly unfair. No one is safe anywhere in the world without everyone being safe,” he added. Ramaphosa also called on developed nations to aid post-pandemic recovery in Africa. The continent has been significantly hit economically by the pandemic, and Ramaphosa reemphasized that Africa should get a significant portion of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) planned $650bn economic boosts. ''Without that support, Africa will forever be left behind. We need more because our economies are going to need a lot of support, and it is only fair,” he said.  ''The continent has been growing and should receive that type of support because all of us must get out of this economic slump brought by COVID-19.” Meanwhile, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, during the virtual QEF, said Africa has to be equal partners with the rest of the world in manufacturing vaccines to be able to meet the vaccination demands of its population. According to Reuters’ daily statistics, there have been at least 5,253,000 reported infections and 137,000 reported deaths caused by the coronavirus in Africa so far. ''We have the International Finance Corporation, the European Union, and we have other partners who are willing to come and do that with our continent. Once that is up and running, I think we should be able to get vaccines at the same time with the rest of the world.” Kagame said there’ll be three hubs in Africa, South Africa, Senegal, and Rwanda, where vaccines will be manufactured. ''For Rwanda, we have partnered with industries that specialize in mRNA technology. This is a new technology that has wide applications. We have discussed with the people who will help with the financing, and I think we should hear a different story in a few months,” he said. On the economic front, Kagame said Africa needs stability to attract investment. He highlighted the African Continental Free Trade Area, which will help grow the market. ''It is going to be the largest in the world and helps intra-trade between countries. It helps create a huge market to attract investment, and there’s always going to be the immense resources in our continent that the world needs. We have to make these loose ends meet so that capital and resources can be invested in and with Africa.”MENAFN22062021000063011010ID1102323459