President Paul Kagame has called for more efforts to mobilize another $2.2 billion that is left to raise toward the global polio eradication initiative. He said this on Saturday, December 10 during the forum for immunization and polio eradication in Africa. “The recent pledges of $2.6 billion toward the Global Polio Eradication Initiative rake us a big step closer, but there is still another $2.2 billion left to raise,” he noted. He said that financing is needed to eradicate all forms of polio. “Two years ago, Africa was declared free of wild polio. Despite this remarkable achievement, the Covid pandemic has disrupted routine immunizations, causing preventable childhood diseases to rise. With renewed commitments to the Addis Declaration on immunization, we can eradicate all remaining forms of polio, and get back on track with childhood vaccinations overall,” he said. He emphasized that building vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa is essential for the continent’s health security. “Through the African Union’s partnership for African vaccine manufacturing, there has been good progress in several countries, including Senegal, Rwanda and, South Africa,” he said. Kagame noted that this has been achieved with the support of the European Union and other partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization. “Health is a right, and until everyone in Africa enjoys access to primary healthcare, including vaccination services, no one is safe. We have the resources and know-how. So let’s work together, and renew our commitment to eradicate polio, once and for all,” he said. “We have also established the African Medicines Agency, to ensure that pharmaceutical products made in Africa are safe and effective,” he added. In June 2022, President Paul Kagame led the ceremony to break ground for the construction of the BioNTech vaccine manufacturing plant in Rwanda that will promote scalable mRNA vaccine production in Africa. The manufacturing plant for mRNA-based vaccines is being built in the Kigali Special Economic Zone located at Masoro-Munini, Gasabo District, in a section earmarked for biopharma manufacturing. In partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he disclosed that the plant will manufacture tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria vaccines.
