EU and Africa Summit Overshadowed by Vaccine Access

A cloud of frustration about Europe’s refusal to share vaccine technology looms over a two day summit of African and European leaders this week. While many in North America and Europe have started receiving COVID-19 booster shots, less than 12 percent of Africans are fully vaccinated due to limited supplies being allocated to the continent. Although EU agencies have pledged to donate vaccines, African leaders say the real need is technology transfers that would allow them to produce their own supply, a request that has been repeatedly denied.

According to Ashleigh Furlong of Politico, “African countries would like Western pharma companies to go much further. In October 2020, South Africa and India — backed by the Africa group — proposed that intellectual property rights related to vaccines be waived to enable wider production. A waiver wouldn’t do anything to compel companies to share their knowledge of vaccine production but it would protect manufacturers from potential patent infringement claims if they wanted to produce a vaccine on their own.”

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(Source: Politico, February 13^th, 2022)