WTO Considers Nigeria, South Africa As Vaccine Production Hubs

Lisa Ferdinando/U.S. Secretary of Defense/Flickr

A vial of the Covid-19 vaccine.

21 JUNE 2021

Premium Times (Abuja)

The trade body also considers Senegal and Rwanda.

World Trade Organisation (WTO) said Africa is working with the European Union and other partners to help create regional vaccine manufacturing hubs with Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General WTO, said on Monday during a virtual meeting that "we have now seen that over-centralization of vaccine production capacity is incompatible with equitable access in a crisis situation."

"Regional production hubs, in tandem with open supply chains, offer a more promising path to preparedness for future health crisis."

On Monday, the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) Independent Task Team on Equitable and Universal Access to Vaccines and Vaccination in Africa launched in Nigeria.

The launch, which held on Monday at the Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital (IUTH), Okada Town, Edo State, had in attendance medical experts, researchers and policymakers from nations across the continent of Africa.

CoDA is an initiative of the Africa Union created to discuss and begin the process of vaccine development and distribution within the African continent.