African Union Special envoy , Strive Masiyiwa has revealed that Africa is set to manufacture its own vaccines.
Masiyiwa revealed that African Presidents have tried by all means to purchase vaccines but they are failing to get the vaccines.
“I have sat down with presidents, they have been calling manufacturers for vaccines but there are no vaccines available for 2021. The greatest opportunity for us emerged when we realised there was a factory in South Africa which could be used to manufacture vaccines,” said Masiyiwa.
The Zimbabwean further revealed that President Ramaphosa negotiated with the factory so as to manufacture vaccines.
He further revealed that the African Union is set to purchase 400 million vaccines from Johnson and Johnson’s company.
However, Masiyiwa also revealed that in order to purchase the vaccines, there is need to pay in advance.
According to the agreement between AU and the manufacturers, the first shipment of the vaccine is expected to be in August.
Few days ago, Strive Masiyiwa accused the world’s richest nations of deliberately failing to provide enough vaccines to the continent.
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