French President Emmanuel Macron joined several African leaders on Thursday to kick off a planned $1 billion project to accelerate the rollout of vaccines in , after the coronavirus pandemic exposed in access to them. The launch of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, which will provide financial incentives to vaccine manufacturers, offered a momentary break for Macron from domestic political concerns as a looms on June 30 and July 7. Many African leaders and advocacy groups say of access to COVID-19 treatment tools, vaccines and testing equipment — that many richer countries bought up in huge quantities — after the pandemic was declared in 2020.
WHO, advocacy groups and others want to help Africa get better prepared for the next pandemic, which many health experts say is inevitable. When the coronavirus pandemic began, South Africa was the only country in Africa with any ability to produce vaccines, officials say, and the continent produced a tiny fraction of all vaccines worldwide. WHO failed in its efforts to help countries agree to a “pandemic treaty” — to improve preparedness and response to pandemics — before its annual meeting last month.
The project was shelved largely over disagreements about sharing of information about pathogens that cause epidemics and the high-tech tools used to fight them. Negotiators will resume work on the treaty in hopes of clinching a deal by the next WHO annual meeting in 2025. Thursday’s event in Paris also aims to .
