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Vaccine Equity: Buhari advocates countries’ fair access to COVID-19 Vaccines

President Muhammadu Buhari Delivering a Keynote Speech at Paris Peace Forum in France Photo: State House

*Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in France, urges world leaders and global health institutions to activate enabling access to the COVID-19 Vaccines for the safety of all, as the current  ‘state of vaccine delivery across the world leaves much to be desired’

Gbenga Kayode | ñ

As vaccinations against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continue in most wealthy continents of the world while several developing countries and emerging markets yet await their vaccine supplies, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has urged world leaders and global health institutions activate an enabling access to the COVID-19 vaccines in other parts of the global community.

ñ reports President Buhari, who stated this while delivering a keynote statement that focused on “Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Importance of Coordination Among All Actors for Vaccine Delivery”, Thursday, November 11, 2021, at the Paris Peace Forum (PPF), in France,  urged that sidelining countries in terms of reach would undermine the entire effort for safety of all humans.

Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public in a statement said Buhari explained that export restrictions that encourage needless hoarding of COVID-19 Vaccines should be lifted.

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The Nigerian President, however, acknowledged the pledges by the most industrialised countries of the world to share vaccines, the statement noted.

According to the President, the pledges should be fulfilled in a timely manner, as he appreciated some countries, like France, that have donated vaccines to developing countries of the world.

He stated: “Resolving supply-chain constraints would require better coordination within the manufacturing process; and between manufacturers and end-users.

“There is a clear need for the expansion of vaccine production capacity in Africa.

“In this regard, African countries already have a roadmap: the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA) developed in 2007 by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) on the basis of an African Union Summit decision taken in 2005.”

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The statement also quoted the President Buhari as saying “licensing agreements should be reached with pharmaceutical companies for the transfer of intellectual property and technology to support the production of vaccines in Africa.

“If global vaccination is the only way to end the COVID-19 pandemic, then all stakeholders must act in a coordinated manner to plug the vaccine supply gap in Africa.”

He stressed that the coordination for distribution of the COVID-19 Vaccines has to be total, and the objective had to be the same: to deliver vaccines to the world.

Buhari further noted: “The state of vaccine delivery across the world leaves much to be desired.

“We have a situation where some countries are giving booster third doses for their citizens when millions across the world, especially in the developing world, are yet to receive a single dose.”

READ ALSO: China Inoculates Over 1billion People As Virus Third Wave Rages In Africa

He also charged the leaders: “Let us compare vaccination rates to give an idea of the dimension of the problem.

“According to recent data, as of 4th November, 2021. 91.3 doses of vaccine had been given for every 100 persons across the world.

“On the same date, however, only 14.7 doses of vaccine per 100 persons had been administered in Africa – a clear case of lopsidedness.

“According to Bloomberg, countries with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated ten times faster than those with the lowest income.”

Buhari as well stated that as November 5 this year, Africa had fully vaccinated 77 million persons, amounting to insignificant 6 percent of the continent’s population of about 1.341billion people, according to the World Bank.

By comparison, he stated, 60 percent of the European Union (EU) population had been fully vaccinated by September 2021.

COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria

“This massive gap between vaccine requirements in Africa and vaccine availability is undermining the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic on the continent.

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“Even if Africa were to receive the 600 million doses of vaccine expected to be delivered to the continent by the end of 2021 under the COVAX arrangement there would still be a considerable shortfall when compared to the population of the continent which currently stands at 1.383 billion,’’ Buhari said.

While quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, the Nigerian President also disclosed that even the planned COVAX deliveries to the African continent had been cut by 25 percent due to supply shortages and export bans in certain countries.

He further said: “This is a major setback for Africa, where it is estimated that COVID-19 Vaccine deliveries have to increase from around 20 million doses a month to an average of 150 million doses a month, if the target of fully vaccinating 70 percent of its population by September 2022 is to be achieved.

“So, what needs to be done to plug the gap? How can vaccine availability in Africa be boosted? Who needs to do what?’’

The Nigerian leader as well commended Mr. Pascal Lamy, President of the Paris Peace Forum, for the invitation to share his thoughts on the importance of coordination among all actors in the fight against the disruptive COVID-19 pandemic.

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