DECISION ON THE REPORT ON THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND ITS SOCIO-
ECONOMIC IMPACT ON AFRICAN ECONOMIES - Doc. EX.CL/1285(XXXIX)
The Executive Council,
1. RECALLING the commitments made by the Chairperson of the Africa Union President Tshishekedi, supported by President Ramaphosa and President Kagame at the Vaccine Manufacturing and Health Security Virtual Summit held 12 and 13 April 2021;
2. FURTHER RECALLING the mandate defined in Agenda 2063 - the Africa We Want and BUILDING ON the efforts of the Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative and other African medicines manufacturing initiatives;
3. WELCOMES the commitments expressed in the launch of the Partnership for Africa Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM);
4. RECOGNISES the efforts of Chairperson Moussa Faki, AU Commissioners and Special Envoys, the PRC, and entire body of the AU, to enhance Africa’s health security preparedness and response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic;
5. ACKNOWLEDGES the successes steered through the Adapted Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 Pandemic and implemented by Africa CDC, through the implementation of the African Medicines Supply Platform (AMSP) and African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT);
6. ENDORSES efforts aimed at redressing the current imbalance in access to COVID-19 response resources including diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines;
7. RECOGNISES the continuing inequity of access to COVID-19 vaccines, with less than 5% of the continental population being fully vaccinated by the end of September 2021, compared to a global average of over 50%;
8. FURTHER RECOGNISES the continuing continental vulnerability due to limited local vaccine manufacturing, with just 1% of Africa’s vaccines needs being domestically manufactured today;
9. HIGHLIGHTS the necessity of a coordinated continental approach to developing a vaccine manufacturing industry as a key health security investment;
10. WELCOMES the opportunities presented by the creation and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the ratification of the African Medicines Agency (AMA);
11. ACKNOWLEDGES the establishment and endorsement of the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) by the AU to steer the development of a resilient and robust vaccine manufacturing ecosystem with the goal of increasing African manufacturing from the current 1% to at least 60% by 2040;
12. FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGES the endorsement of the AVATT COVID-19 vaccination target of at least 60% of the African population by end of 2022;
13. RECOGNISES the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) as the coordinating mechanism and its leadership of the development of a continental vaccine manufacturing strategy and a framework for action;
14. EXPRESSES SUPPORT to the role played by the PAVM, African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), African Vaccines Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and African No Fault Compensation Scheme Trust (ANFCST) in delivering on the complementary goals of addressing the immediate COVID-19 vaccination ambitions, and the longer-term goal of enhanced continental vaccine manufacturing;
15. REQUESTS the Commission to present to the Executive Council Meeting in January 2022 the Progress Report on the PAVM Continental Vaccine Manufacturing Strategy and the Framework for Action;
16. DECIDES to remain seized by the importance and urgency of this matter.