Africa produces only one per cent of its routine vaccines. This leaves the region dependent on imports for its vaccine needs, and makes it vulnerable to a vaccine crisis during health emergencies.
In this episode of Africa Science Focus, Ebere Okereke, senior technical advisor at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and honorary senior public health advisor for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, says research in science, and funding for therapeutics and vaccine manufacturing in the continent, must increase.
Professor Claude Muvunyi, director general for the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, tells us that boosting Africa's capacity to manufacture vaccines will be a front burner discussion during the 2nd International Conference on Public Health in Africa, scheduled to take place in Rwanda on the second week of December.
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides strong protection against MIS-C in children aged 5–17