The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said it will invest $3 billion to support Africa's vaccine manufacturing capacity. Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB President said this during at the 35th African Union Summit on Saturday in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia, explaining that the funds will ensure Africans get greater access to quality healthcare.
He noted that the continent still needs $484 billion over the next three years to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as support economic recovery.
Mr Adesina added that the pandemic has taught Africa the need to build a defense mechanism against external shock, especially in financial security and healthcare, adding that the priorities for an African healthcare defense system are building quality healthcare infrastructure; developing the continent’s pharmaceutical industry, and increasing the capacity of vaccine manufacturing.
According to Bloomberg, the pandemic has shown the need for the continent to manufacture its vaccines, saying over 10.2 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across 184 countries with only 21 out of 54 African countries vaccinated at least 10 percent of its population.
