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New funds committed to boosting COVID-19 vaccination rates to achieve 70% country target by mid-2022, consensus on need to quickly expand local manufacturing in Africa and calls to resolve TRIPS waiver WTO discussions.
Dr Ayoade Alakija, WHO Special Envoy for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and Chair, African Vaccine Delivery Alliance (AVDA) brought Heads of State and leaders from civil society, industry and government together over a three day ‘Ports to Arms’ Global Summit to smash the bottlenecks that have prevented people from being able to access distribution of vaccines, treatments and tests.
Hosted by the Emergency Coordination Centre and the African Vaccine Delivery Alliance, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Presidnt Hakainde Hichilema, President of Zambia and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General opened the meeting and outlined the urgent steps that need to be taken to end the acute stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Emergency Coordination Centre and the African Vaccine Delivery Alliance have hosted a critically important Global Summit, brought leaders from around the world together and developed clear recommendations for how to end the inequity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic” said President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “Vaccinating against COVID-19 has accelerated in the country and we must use any lull in the virus to increase immunity and strengthen our health system so it is ready for future waves of the virus and other potential disease threats.”
Throughout 2021, supply of vaccines was hoarded by a small number of countries and manufacturers. While supply is now improving, distribution challenges also need to be tackled but with new variants on the horizon now is the moment to work together to reach the global target of 70% vaccination in all countries by mid-2022, while also making sure that next generation COVID-19 vaccines are produced and distributed in a truly equitable way.
“Protecting the highest priority groups, including all health workers, older adults, and those with underlying medical conditions, must remain our urgent and immediate focus, to prevent severe disease, save lives, and safeguard essential health services,” said Dr.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “We strongly support the proposal from South Africa and India for a temporary waiver of intellectual property
rights under the TRIPS agreement for the duration of the pandemic. The flexibilities in the TRIPS agreement are there to be used in emergencies. If not now, then when?
With new variants of COVID-19 inevitable, the hybrid event brought new financial commitments – including Dr. Atul Gawande, USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health, announcing $33.3 million in extra aid to Nigeria to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination via Global VAX in coordination with COVAX.
“Under the drumbeat of war and with shifting geopolitical sands, now is the moment for Africa to stand together and fight to save every life, fight to protect health workers and fight to strengthen health systems,” said Dr Ayoade Alakija. “This Summit is about smashing the colonialism we’ve seen in this pandemic and breaking bottlenecks that are prolonging the pandemic and hammering home the truth that all lives are and must be treated with equal worth.”
There were also clear recommendations for all efforts to be made to speed up the development of local production, including calls for international health groups to commit to sourcing health technologies from Africa and for discussion around a temporary TRIPS waiver to be concluded quickly.
“Today, almost 55% of the world has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. In Africa, only about 12% of people have been fully immunised, in part because of late and unpredictable access to vaccines. Meanwhile, six out of seven Covid-19 cases go undiagnosed amid a lack of access to testing on the continent,” said Tian Jonhnson, Lead
– African Alliance. We call on the African Union, G7, and other leaders to urgently agree to a fully funded roadmap to deliver on the WHO goal of fully vaccinating 70% of people globally by mid-2022. The roadmap should be based on a comprehensive global manufacturing and distribution plan for the vaccines and all COVID-19 products and technologies. This plan must also include a regular public reporting mechanism — with meaningfully civil society oversight.
