His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) on the 27th of January 2021 convened a virtual meeting/webinar on the Africa COVID-19 Vaccine Financing and Deployment Strategy.
 
 High-level representatives from the continent, including Ministers of Health and Finance, AU Member States, and business leaders, civil society and the continental scientific community attended the webinar.
 
The United Nations Secretary General addressed the meeting in a video-recorded message to give support to the matter at hand--of COVID-19 vaccine financing and deployment.
 
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the President of the World Bank Group Mr David Malpass attended the webinar.
 
The Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Dr John Nkengasong and Dr Seth Berkley from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, were also in attendance.
 
In his opening remarks, President Ramaphosa reiterated the importance of international solidarity to ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine; noting that vaccination programmes worldwide were critical to the pandemic's global containment.
 
In closing remarks delivered by Dr John Nkengasong on behalf of the AU Chairperson it was said:
 
“We are of one mind that vaccines must forever remain a public good and that they should be accessible to all. That they should be the preserve of only the privileged and resourced threatens the very founding premise of the United Nations, that of the equal rights of men and women of nations large and small; and faith in the dignity and worth of every human person.”
 
President Ramaphosa said that it is was disappointing that developing economies on the continent were facing challenges in accessing vaccines when considering that a number of clinical trials for the same vaccines were carried out on the continent. 
 
The meeting concurred that countries needed to vaccinate enough of their populations to achieve herd immunity.
 
Participants received an update on the continent’s progress in acquiring vaccines through the COVID-19 African Vaccine Task Team established by the AU Chairperson in November 2020.
 
In less than two months since its establishment, the COVID-19 African Vaccine Task Team has managed to secure a provisional 270 million doses for African countries; and has also received offers of an additional 400 million vaccine doses. 
 
The African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim) has been instrumental in working with the AVATT and the COVAX Facility in organising an advanced procurement facility of $ 2bn to enable African countries to engage suppliers directly.
 
The COVAX Facility will provide 27% of vaccines for the continent. President Ramaphosa told the meeting that choosing the pooled procurement route instead of only bilateral acquisition had enabled African countries to access the life-saving vaccines more speedily.
 
Member States we urged to work with COVAX and provide their formal expressions of interest in the vaccines through the African Medical Supplies Platform launched by the AU Chairperson on the 17th of June 2020 and developed by the AU Special Envoy Strive Masiyiwa.
 
The webinar also discussed the continent’s state of readiness for vaccine delivery and Member States were urged to support the Implementation Guide for COVID-19 Vaccine in Africa developed by the Africa CDC that is epidemiology-based and provides guidelines on phased deployment of the vaccines.
 
Participants noted that Member countries' regulatory processes have to be urgently streamlined to expedite vaccine access, while not compromising on efficacy, safety and quality checks.
 
The meeting also discussed the urgency of conducting mass public communications and awareness campaigns to secure greater public buy-in for the vaccination programmes and target disinformation and fake news being spread about the COVID-19 vaccine.
 
The meeting engaged on the critical issue of financing for the vaccine roll-out and the support needed by African countries. The World Bank committed $12bn for vaccinations in African countries in grants or on highly concessional terms. The meeting emphasised the importance of the private sector on the continent in supporting the mission of the AVATT. A presentation was received on the potential for greater collaboration between the private and public sectors to improve capabilities and capacities for vaccine deployment.
 
The meeting discussed mobile telecommunications' role in supporting vaccine deployment by way of tracking and tracing vaccine supplies, managing vaccination appointments and reminders, the creation of digital vaccination certificates and others.
 
The webinar participants resolved to move with speed to realise the immediate objective of ensuring all African states have access to the vaccine and can vaccinate their populations.
 
 
Media enquiries: Tyrone Seale, Acting Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa
 
Issued by: The Presidency