In all likelihood, in the next six to 12 months, an effective Covid-19 vaccine will be discovered. What will most likely ensue is an unprecedented demand by countries to secure the vaccine for their respective citizens. All of the promising Covid-19 clinical trials are taking place in the USA, Europe, and China which puts Africa in a disadvantaged position in case of the discovery. However, probably for the first time since the end of colonialism, Africa has an opportunity to lay a foundation and formulate a strategy that would allow us to control our destiny in as regards mass production and distribution of the vaccine without relying on the Western world to come to our rescue. The truth of the matter is, it’s hard to discover a vaccine, but it is equally complex, and even more expensive to mass-produce a vaccine like the one for Covid-19 with high demand. Most likely, seven to 14 billion doses will be needed to cover everyone across the globe depending on if it is one or two doses regiment. This is an extremely expensive undertaking that will require global collaboration on a scale not seen in recent history. It is going to require setting up of new vaccine production plants in strategic places around the world to ensure an effective supply chain of the vaccine. It is therefore of utmost importance that Africa does not sit on the fence and wait for the rich Western countries to produce and distribute the vaccine to Africa. If history has shown us anything, it is that the approach has never worked well for Africa or any other developing region for that matter. As it was recently reported in the Washington Post, according to data from the USA Center for Disease Control, more than 80 million Americans were inoculated in the 2009 swine-flu pandemic — an amount that roughly equals the total number of doses that were received in 77 countries under a distribution plan by the World Health Organization. The rich countries got most of the vaccines while poor countries got the vaccine later and less of it. This is the most likely scenario especially considering the nationalist and populist political climate that has taken hold both in America and Europe, unless if Africa does it differently this time. At the end of the day, this is going to come down to who is either able to buy for the vaccines or to mass-produce and distribute the vaccine them. If life is going to return to normal on a timeline set by Africans, then Africa through the African Union has to pool together its resources and have in place a framework for a Covid-19 vaccine fund for Africa. African countries should be required to make a substantial contribution to this fund to raise the necessary investments. This fund will have two major goals; the first goal is to invest in building at least three production plants in key strategic cities in Africa with the capacity to start production upon the vaccine discovery. The second goal is to streamline distribution channels that will enable a safe and efficient supply chain of the vaccine until it gets to the end-user. If Africa can make these absolutely needed investments now it is going to have a huge pay off in this Covid19 fight. But perhaps of equal importance, these investments in production plants and distribution systems will finally help address the long-standing issues associated with the production of billions of basic vaccine doses administered every year in Africa. Since 2000, most vaccination programmes on the African continent have been largely supported by GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccine. GAVI is mostly supported by Bill and Melinda gates foundation and other western countries. It is important to acknowledge the important work GAVI has done over the past 20 years to provide vaccines to hundreds of millions of children in Africa. But it’s also fair to acknowledge the colonial undertones associated with programmes that lack African ownership. Therefore, this is a great opportunity for Africa to take a leadership role by making these investments now to empower to building infrastructures, systems and the knowledge base that will help guide us not only through this Covid-19 pandemic but also provide a catalyst and a platform to a new industry of vaccine production and distribution. The writer is a Global Health Expert working as an analyst at the US Department of Defense on issues related to the development of early diagnostic, treatment, and vaccines for Covid-19.
