60% of vaccines used in Africa will be produced locally’ – President Ruto
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President William Ruto now says Africa will be able to produce 60 percent of vaccines it uses by 2040
President William Ruto now says Africa will be able to produce 60 percent of vaccines it uses by 2040.
In a statement on X moments after co-hosting a meeting on vaccine manufacturing in Africa with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ruto said the continent was the last to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“But this situation will change for the better. AU has resolved that by 2040, 60 percent of vaccines used in Africa will be produced locally. This is underpinned by our solid research capacity in vaccines. Kenya, for instance, participated in the Covid-19 vaccine trials,” Ruto stated.
According to Ruto, the COVID-19 situation exposed the dire state of Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturing, including that of vaccines.
“The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the dire state of Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturing, including that of vaccines. We were the last continent to access Covid-19 vaccines, and suffered greatly from ‘vaccine nationalism’,” he added.
Among the leaders who attended the meeting on vaccine manufacturing in Africa with IVI in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia include Presidents Mohamed al-Menfi (Libya), Brahim Ghali (Sahrawi), Ahmed Hachani (Prime Minister, Tunisia), IVI Director-General Jerome Kim and Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya, among others.
In addition, Ruto proposed new reform to prevent Africans from seeking jobs in other continents.
Ruto challenged the African continent to harness its green energy to create opportunities for Africans arguing that the continent was no longer a victim of rapidly changing climate change but an explorer of clean energy that lies within.
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He, as a result, challenged other African leaders and the African Union to explore the opportunities for jobs across the continent.
The Head of State noted that the opportunities will help curb dangerous travels unemployed Africans embark on to seek better opportunities in other continents.
“We, today, are very proud that Africa is no longer the continent that was viewed just as a mere victim of climate change,” he told the gathering.
“Today, we are repositioning Africa as the continent that has the largest potential for renewable energy and we can use this potential, transform it into an opportunity and change it into an investment that will give not just an Africa green industrialisation trajectory but it will also create opportunities for employment and industrialisation that will eventually create enough jobs and stop our young people from migrating using rickety instruments in dangerous voyages to the rest of the world.”
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