H.E. President Ruto on Sunday co-hosted a meeting on vaccine manufacturing in Africa with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the meeting, President Ruto reiterated the need for Africa to be proactive in producing vaccines to combat diseases.

President Ruto remarked that the continent, particularly Kenya, has the research capacity to produce vaccines, stating that Kenya participated in the Covid-19 trials.

“The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the dire state of Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturing, including that of vaccines. We were the last continent to access Covid-19 vaccines, and suffered greatly from ‘vaccine nationalism’”, said President Ruto.

In resolution to this challenge, the AU has resolved that by 2024, 60% of all vaccines used in the continent should be locally manufactured.

President Mohamed al-Menfi (Libya) was present. Others in attendance were Ahmed Hachani (Prime Minister, Tunisia), IVI Director-General Jerome Kim, and Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya, among others.