Rwanda is being considered among the African countries where a regional vaccine manufacturing hub could be set up. The development was confirmed by Dr Ngozi Ikonjo Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization in her virtual interview with Reuters news agency on Monday, June 21. She noted that Rwanda is vying for the position with Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. The vaccine manufacturing hub will be set up with the partnership of European Union among other partners. She made the case for the production hub on the continent, saying this will ease the equitable access of vaccines to all the people, particularly the most disadvantaged of which, a larger part is found in Africa. “We have now seen that over-centralization of vaccine production capacity is incompatible with equitable access in a crisis situation,” she noted, citing the essence of regional production hubs. “Regional production hubs, in tandem with open supply chains, offer a more promising path to preparedness for future health crisis. Several times, President Paul Kagame has made the case for the production of vaccines in Africa, citing that the latter would get the continent out of the current health crisis which has also had social economic effects on the population of Africa. The head of state also made the case in a bid to advocate for equitable vaccine delivery, indicating that the whole world won’t be safe unless all parts of the world are equitably vaccinated.
