COVID-19: President Macron calls for lifting of vaccine patents
The Paris summit seeking to boost financing in Africa amid the Covid-19 pandemic on Tuesday called for the lifting of vaccine patents to allow their manufacture on the continent, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
As all delegates agreed that there can be no exit from the economic crisis, without an exit from the Coronavirus health crisis, the IMF, Europe and other international players including China have all agreed to exceed the Covax target of vaccinating 20% of the population. The new target is 40%.
On the issue of allocating more credit from developed countries to Africa through special drawing rights at the IMF, it was agreed that Africa’s allocation is raised from $33 billion to $100 billion.
Senegal’s president Macky Sall emphasized the need to move from receiving aid to cooperation while DRC’s Tshishekedi welcomed the goal of vaccinating as many Africans as possible.
Macron emphasized the need for a New Deal that includes producing and reserving intellectual property rights for vaccines in Africa.
Overall, this summit, the first high-level meeting of its kind since the pandemic started in 2020, has been a massive success.
Africa has so far been less badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic than other global regions — with a total of 130,000 dead across the continent — although the human catastrophe in India shows it is way too early to sound the all-clear.
Suzan O/AFN
