President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday stated that African countries will continue to make the case for building Africa’s capacity to produce its own vaccines, warning that without being able to manufacture its own vaccines, Africa may not have an equitable recovery.

At the sixth African Union and European Union Summit last week, the World Health Organization announced that six African countries will produce mRNA vaccines for the continent.  

It is now two years since the first Covid-19 case in Africa was reported, with over 11-million cases on the continent.

Ramaphosa said even as the burden of infections remained high, dire predictions about Africa’s ability to withstand the health impact of the pandemic had not materialised. 

“Our experience of managing Covid-19 has emboldened the nations of Africa. It has shown us that resources and capabilities exist across our own continent to deal with emergencies of this magnitude. It has reminded us that we have world-class institutions like the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that must be supported and capacitated to fulfill their mandates,” he stated.

However, he also said that while the pandemic had shown how fragile the continent’s global partnerships could be, it had strengthened the continent’s collective resolve to step up pressure on developed economy nations to give Africa not charity, but its just dues. 

“We must uplift ourselves by making our own medicines to treat our people and save lives. We must develop our own economies through the African Continental Free Trade Area, promoting investment and tourism within Africa, accelerating industrialisation, and driving green growth and low-carbon development. We must end all conflict and entrench democracy and good governance,” he said.

He welcomed the commitment coming out of the African Union-European Union Summit for constructive engagement toward an agreement on a comprehensive World Trade Organization response to the pandemic, which included trade-related and intellectual-property-related aspects.