Dakar: Africa consumes nearly 25 percent of all globally produced vaccines, yet imports 99 percent of its vaccine needs. This reliance on external supplies has posed significant challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, where vaccine hoarding by wealthier nations left Africa struggling to protect its vulnerable populations.

According to Global Voices, the continent's leaders recognize the urgent need to localize vaccine manufacturing. In 2021, the African Union launched the Saving Lives and Livelihoods (SLL) initiative, a USD 1.5 billion strategy to address this gap. The initiative, supported by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the Mastercard Foundation, aims to vaccinate 70 percent of Africa's population and establish a sustainable vaccine manufacturing ecosystem through the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM).

The SLL's first phase has delivered approximately 35 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and expanded genomic sequencing labs from two to 40 across the continent. Despite these efforts, Africa still produces only 0.2 percent of its vaccine needs, compared to Asia's 43 percent and North America's 35 percent. African leaders have committed to producing 60 percent of the continent's vaccines domestically by 2040.

Clinical trials remain limited in Africa, with less than three percent of global trials conducted on the continent. Dr. Alemayehu Duga of the Africa CDC emphasized the importance of conducting trials in Africa to generate evidence that protects African lives. The SLL initiative includes pharmacovigilance efforts to strengthen safety surveillance and improve reporting on adverse events following immunization.

The African Union Agenda 2063's Aspiration 1 envisions a healthy and empowered population, yet many African governments fall short of investing in health. The Abuja Declaration, adopted in 2021, aimed to allocate at least 15 percent of national budgets to health, but only a few countries have met this target. Countries like Rwanda and Morocco have made notable progress, with Rwanda achieving over 90 percent immunization coverage among children.

Vaccine manufacturing projects are underway in Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, and Kenya. The African Medicines Agency and Africa CDC are working to ensure regulatory standards and WHO prequalification for locally made vaccines by 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for self-reliance, and initiatives like the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator and the Africa Health Security Investment Plan aim to bolster Africa's manufacturing capacity.

The second phase of the SLL initiative, with a USD 638 million investment, is set to run from August 2024 to December 2025, further supporting Africa's journey towards vaccine sovereignty.